Good Enough
by CloudedDreamergal
Summary: Envy devours Sakura's being. She secretly becomes a Shinobi of Shigakure:Village hidden in death. She strives to be as important, and powerful as Naruto and Sasuke, or become more powerful than them. SakuraXOCCXAnyNarutoCharacter. Rated M for safety.
1. Chapter 1

After a long day of training or should I say a brutal beating by Tsunade, apprentice to the Godaime Hokage, Sakura found herself walking past Ichiraku Ramen shop

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters, I only own my occ character and his occ village. **

After a long day of training or should I say a brutal beating by Tsunade, apprentice to the Godaime Hokage, Sakura found herself walking past Ichiraku Ramen shop. Ever since Sasuke left and then Naruto she found that even setting eyes on Ichiraku made her heart ache, and when her heart wasn't aching she felt angry. The two closest people in her lives, her teammates abandoned her: Sasuke for what seems like eternity and Naruto so far for two years three months, fifteen days six hours and forty-eight seconds. She was being whiny and childish! She was a ninja for crying out loud, ninja's lives are unpredictable. Though it truly wasn't the abandonment that bothered her, it was envy.

Sakura envied Naruto and Sasuke, how valuable they were. Naruto and his Kyuubi, Sasuke and his Sharingan, Haruno Sakura what did she have? Chakra enhanced limbs, great medical abilities? Those things are tangible; if she died she could be replaced. When did all of this envy come to be? Was it when she was twelve at the Chuunin exams and she watched her teammate's abilities and compared then to how easily she went down against Ino pig?

No.

The envy that devoured Sakura's soul reared its ugly head after Naruto and Sasuke's fight on the hospital roof. Naruto had his Rasengan aimed at Sasuke and Sasuke had his Chidori aimed at Naruto each ready to destroy each other. Sakura watched in horror, she pictured in her head Naruto and Sasuke dying, and she couldn't take it. Sakura ran between her two teammates who couldn't stop their attacks in time not to hit her, but before death could pop up a Sakura's door Kakashi had stepped in and saved her causing Naruto and Sasuke's attacks to be deflected. Though it wasn't the fact that they had the power to kill each other that changed her life that day it was how both Naruto and Sasuke looked at her afterwards, like she was a pesky fly getting the way of their dinner. It was when they told her to stay out of it, to not get involved that it wasn't her fight. Her two teammates made her feel inferior, like a weak little civilian child. That day hurt a lot. That day made her envy Sasuke and Naruto. That day made Sakura want to be worth Sasuke, Naruto, Orochimaru, Kakashi, and the Akatsuki's time. From that day forth Sakura vowed to develop a strength all her own. Sakura vowed to be respected by everyone not as a fine medical ninja but a powerful, worthy opponent.

When ever she would train with Tsunade she would use the thoughts of wanting to be worthy to become stronger. She would endure her chakra infused punches and kicks imaging that each punch and kick can from Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi going full force not holding back on her because they saw her as week. Sakura began to enjoy the pain of training because it made her feel less numb inside.


	2. Chapter 2

Yet again Sakura walked down the street, in deep thought

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters, I only own my occ character and his occ village. **

Yet again Sakura walked down the street, in deep thought. Her thoughts were particularly on Naruto who had returned just two days ago, and their bell test against Kakashi. Both Kakashi and Naruto were shocked to see how much she's changed from being a weak little girl. The looks on their faces were priceless when she punched the ground and a crater appeared in its place. And especially Naruto's: "Wow Sakura-chan!"

"If seeing that sad excuse of an attack got a 'wow' from Naruto and 'wide eyes' from Kakashi-Sensei, what would they have done if I used what I've been developing?" Sakura thought herself, as she walked to the bench that Sasuke had abandoned her on when she was twelve.

Sakura eyed the bench with a look of sadness then she sat down on it with her hands folding behind her head as she leant back and stared at the clouds.

"I could have easily retrieved those bells myself, but since Tsunade-Sensei was hiding and watching Naruto and I, I couldn't, and then there's the fact that I haven't finished the technique completely. Argh. Riyou-sama! He could have at least taught me the rest of the technique before he took off again." Sakura thought out loud with a scowl on her face.

All Sakura's thoughts flashed back to when she met Riyou-Sensei. She first met him that day after the fight on the roof.

FLASH BACK

Sakura had gone back to the hospital roof the night Naruto returned from his failed attempt to bring Sasuke back, and she cried. She sat crossed legged in the center of the roof crying.

"Sasuke!" She sniffed Sakura said between sobs and sniffles.

"So that's the names of that idiot. Sasuke." A silky male voice said.

Sakura got up and turned around to look at what looked like a red blur, until she used the back of her hands to wipe the tears away from her eyes. Saw a tall boy who looked about 15 years old. His skin was slightly sun kissed, his blue eyes pierced the night, His long red hair framed his face in the front in the style of bangs with a part going down the middle of his head, and in the back his hair was in a long thick braid that went all the way to his feet. He was handsome that must Sakura's inner would admit. Sakura looked at his clothes and body. He was definitely a Ninja. He wore a purple and white lined Chinese style men's pants suit, without sleeves. His arms were toned with muscle but not bulky, lean. His left ear had golden piercing running up it. And on further inspection Sakura noticed that he had a white feather in his hair and a giant green and black scroll on his back held their by a black sash. He was a ninja that much Sakura could tell; however he didn't have a ninja head band. Why was he on the roof anyway this late at night? Why was she even on the roof this late when all twelve years old should be sleep? She had to sneak out of her house just to get where she is. Sakura gathered her courage and decided to ask the boy who writing something on his scroll with the end of the long feather that was positioned on in his hair.

"W-ho... who are you? What are you doing up here?" Sakura reluctantly asked.

The boy scratched the top of his head the writing end of his feather, and smiled at Sakura a slightly fake smile, she could tell because it didn't reach his eyes.

"I'm on a gathering information mission. I'm trying to see if my village should like your village or not. Pretty simple. Though so far I found something very ugly about your village that I distaste cutie." He said while his fake smile expression became a serious one.

"Your village? Like my village? Information gathering?" All of what this boy said started setting off warning lights in Sakura's head and his serious stern expression wasn't helping either.

"He doesn't wear a ninja headband, maybe he's trying to hide what village he's from because he's village is plotting to attack Konoha!" Sakura thought to herself.

The boy must have noticed the alarm in her eyes because he started to approach Sakura, and Sakura in turn pulled out a kunai from her pouch and got into a fighting position.

The boy just smirked at her while placing the scroll back onto his back and the feather in his hair.

"You know you could just give me the benefit of the doubt. I said that I'm here to see if my village should your village or not, not that I'm here to see if my village should attack your village or not cutie." He said with a smirk still plastered on his face.

"But you said that you found something about my village you don't like. SO what happens to Konoha if you don't like it?" She asked still in a fighting stance.

The boy walked closer to Sakura until he was inches from her. She noticed that he was way taller than her. Then the boy just flopped down to the ground and sat down facing Sakura.

"Well I guess in deciding if I should like a village or not I should at least talk to the female of Kohona's prized team Kakashi. So please sit down cutie, if I wanted you harm you would be harmed." He said looking serious again.

Sakura should have ran the second the boy sat down but she felt interested in what he had to say so she put her kunai away and sat down crossed legged facing the boy.

"So Haruno, I know you but you don't know me, I'll decide if you deserve to know me after our conversation." The boy said calmly

"How do you know my name?" Sakura asked eyeing the boy before her suspiciously.

"I was here yesterday doing the dobe's fight." He said then Sakura interrupted him.

"Don't insult Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled at him. He looked at her with a look of anger, and then his expression became serious again, as he began to stare up at the night sky.

"Haruno. I was just like you and your teammates when I was a kid. Except you're not from a bloodline where you're expected to be great. I come from, a bloodline that produce only great shinobi. I was born with respect pouring into me from the villagers, because of my name. When I was your age I was weak, and the respect disappeared, I had to earn it, and work hard for it, but no matter how many beating I took their were always two people in my life who would never respect me, because I was never good enough. Earlier today I left my hospital bed bandaged because I felt two strong chakra signatures, when I got up here I used a jutsu to watch while being unseen. I saw how you jumped in-between your teammates, I saw the desperation in your eyes, the fear of their deaths and then I discovered something ugly about Kohona. When your teammates pushed you aside like a useless nuisance, I noticed that you had that same look in your eyes that I carried as a child. You felt inferior like you weren't good enough to be treated as a equal." He continued to look at the stars with emotions swirling around in his eyes.

"But I am. Sasuke and Naruto… I'll never be their equals. Naruto was alone as a child, Sasuke clan was killed by his brother, and they're driven by pain. I've never lost anyone close to me." Said Sakura as she stared down at the ground.

"You have. Sasuke abandoned you, on that bench, Naruto promised to bring him back and failed." Said the boy.

"I don't blame Naruto, he tried his best." Sakura said trying to hold back tears.

"Haruno, you feel lest out?" while making her look him in the eyes by lifting up her chin with his index finger.

"I…I…." Sakura tried to say it, but she couldn't she felt ashamed.

"Haruno. I Riyou wish to become your new sensei. I want to do for you what I wish could have been done for me. I wish to help you become respected in the Ninja world. I know that your loyalty is here with Kohona, but I would like to make you a shinobi of my village. If you join my village you wouldn't be betraying Konoha, you'd actually be helping it. You will gain my oath to protect your village, since you will be my apprentice. You will never have to give me information on your village either; however you may never tell anyone here of my existence, not even your friends. You do not have to answer me in words; however you must answer me with your actions. If you except then go to your Hokage and ask to become her apprentice. Learn from her and become better than her. I shall take my leave cutie."

And then he vanished in a swirl of wind and water. The next day when Sakura heard that Naruto was leaving to train with Jiraya she asked Tsunade to become her apprentice who told her yes. The next day Riyou appeared where he knew she would be the hospital's roof.

"Riyou-sama." She said with a sad look on her face. Riyou noticed this.

"Don't worry Haruno. You aren't betraying your village. Now let's get to the point of why I ask you to become the Hokage's apprentice." He sat down on the ground and started forming hand signs and stopped.

"What did you just do?" Sakura asked as she sat down facing her new sensei.

"Genjutsu. I can't have myself being spotted or heard now can I?" He said as he looked around.

"Oh." Sakura said staring at Riyou curiously.

"Mistake number one my young grasshopper." Said Riyou with a comical glint in his eyes.

"Hey you look only a few years older than me! Sensei!" Sakura yelled.

"As I was saying mistake number one: Never say yes to becoming a apprentice to a sensei who never told you what village that they're from." Riyou smiled a real smile.

Sakura looked embarrassed and frightened at the same time.

"I'll tell you what village I belong to, now that you're my apprentice young grasshopper. Better yet I'll let you see my headband. But you must make it appear. In my village shinobi don't wear headbands like the shinobi of other villages our headbands are engraved into our souls and can only be seen if you focus on our chakra signature. So cutie I want you to stare at my forehead, put your hands together to make the dispel kai symbol as if you were about to dispel a genjutsu. Then I shall teach you the hand movements so you can better study my chakra signature. Follow my lead."

Riyou began to form fast complicated hand signals.

"Riyou-Sama that's too fast!" Sakura yelled, but continued to try and keep up with her sensei as he ignored her. "Rabbit, rabbit, dog, snake, rooster, rabbit, dog, snake, rooster, rabbit, rat, horse, rabbit, dog, snake." Sakura repeated over and over as her sensei started to go in hyper speed.

Sakura started to notice Orange and red chakra gathering around Riyou and then his chakra became black. Sakura focused harder on his forehead and noticed a sideways seven symbol appear, she looked closer and discovered that it was the symbol of a scythe, and then a head band formed around it, but it wasn't made of any sort of material it was made out of some type of floating black matter.

"I see it." Sakura panted. She was reaching chakra depletion by trying to see Riyou's headband. Riyou stopped forming symbols and the chakra disappeared along with his headband. He put his hands over Sakura's to stop her from forming signs. She stopped and started panting heavily.

"Haruno. I'm from Shigakure. Village hidden in death. My village is extremely secretive that is why few know about it, and we try to keep it that way." Riyou said.

"Village hidden in death. What country is that in?" Sakura asked her panting subsiding.

"You learned this technique to see Shigakure shinobi's headbands easily. If you keep practicing you'll be able to see anyone from my village's headband without forming hand signs. Oh and you'll learn more about me as our training progresses."

"Shigakure. So I'm a Shigakure shinobi now?" Asked Sakura.

"You'll need a headband, but you'll have to earn it. To become a Shigakure shinobi you have to become one with the spirit world and death. In other words I'll have to almost kill you. You will have to come as close to death as possible. You might even have to die. That's why I wanted you to become a medical ninja. All Shigakure shinobi have medical skills, even though we don't need them. Don't worry you will be brought back. That's why I won't make you an official shinobi until you're stronger. I will just teach you how to freeze people souls a technique that may come in handy later. Or you ok with dying?

"Who would say yes. I mean… yes sensei."

"Good now let's train cutie-chan."

Sakura blushed at the new 'cutie-chan nick name.

END OF FLASHBACK

Sakura got up from the park bench and stretched. Until she heard her name being called.

"Sakura-chan! Tsunadai-Baa-Chan has a mission for us!"


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note: In this fanfic, Chiyo will not be the one bringing Gaara back to life

**Authors Note: I do not own Naruto. Please review.**

"Odd…" Sakura looked around the Hokages office and noticed that she Naruto and Kakashi weren't the only ones being called. Team Gai, was their also. Kahona's green beast shouted about how un-youthful his moon eyed team mate was being.

"Uh um!" Tsunade loudly cleared her throat as her eyed twitched every quieted down and turned there attention to her.

"Team Gai team Kakashi. You are to leave for Sunagakure immediately. Suna's Kazekage has been kidnapped by the Akatsuki. And the Kazekage's brother Kankoru needs a poison's specialist's immediate attention." Tsunade said speaking calmly with a pent up anxiety look on her face .

"Gaara! Gaara's been taken by the Atkatsuki!" Naruto yelled seemingly closer to developing the Kyuubi's red eyes. "Why are we standing here let's go! I'll rip the Atkatsuki bastards to treads!"

After Naruto's 'angry moment' he busted out Tsunade's office heading towards the gates, with team Gai, and Kakashi following him. Sakura stayed and stared at Tsunade as if she knew that Tsunade had something to speak to her about.

"Sakura, since our favorite hyperactive ninja left along with team Gai and Kakashi here are the scrolls. If Kakashi managed to calm Naruto down they should still be at the gates." Tsunade said handing Sakura both of the scrolls.

"Hai Tsunade-Sama." Sakura replied before jumping out of the window and running towards the gates of Kohona.

When Sakura arrived she noticed that Naruto had calmed down but he still looked slightly pissed, and as soon as he noticed Sakura he headed off into the forest, ready to start the mission.

"Will he ever learn that he can't just go rushing into things like that?" Sakura thought to herself, as she and the other shinobi took off towards the impatient blonde.

TIME SKIP

(Story skips to Sakura and Chiyo's fight against Sasori.)

She was bloody sore and determined, to not let old lady Chiyo die.

Sakura had been fighting alongside old lady Chiyo for what seemed like hours. Sasori of the red sands was defiantly not going down without a fight. As Sasori called upon his hundred puppets, and Chiyo released her 10 puppets Sakura felt a tingling sensation in her head, then it became a searing hot red pain. She wanted to collapse down to her knees but Chiyo's Chakra strings made her fight alongside her puppet arsenal.

While Sakura was pummeling her way through Sasori's puppet she realized that she couldn't find their wielder.

"Where is he?!" She asked herself frantically.

Then she saw him. Sasori was 2 minutes from impelling his grandmother with two swords. Sakura used a medical knife jutsu to cut Chiyo's chakra strings that had been attached to her, and formed hand signs rapidly. She reappeared in front of Chiyo surrounded by a cloud of black smoke.

It seemed as if time was going in slow motion yielding in disbelief to the scene at hand. The black smoke faded away to reveal Sasori's swords piercing through Sakura. One sword pierced her heart and the other pierced her side.

"Why? Why protect an old woman that you do not know kunoichi?" asked the puppet master of the red sands.

Sakura stared at Sasori with wide eyes and then a look of calmness took over her features.

"Loyalty to ones village. My loyalty to Kohona and Shigakure." Choked out the pink hair kunoichi, who heard a gasp behind her.

"Shi…Shigakure! Child how do you know of such a place!" yelled Chiyo looking at the impelled kunoichi with a look of disbelief.

"Ch… Chiyo-san, when I was operating on Kankuro-san I noticed the black matter forming a Shigakure head band around your neck thanks to Riyou-Sama teaching me how to see other Ninja from Shigakure's headbands, and I've been practicing to see them without hand signs"

"Wrath? He recruited you personally child?" Chiyo asked voice still shaking in utter disbelief.

"Wrath?" Sakura asked as blood dripped from her cherry tinted lips.

"He did not tell you did he child?" Chiyo asked

Before Sakura could respond she felt the swords pushing into her deeper.

"Sorry for the interruption; however I hate to leave someone waiting for death." Sasori said.

Before the swords could go further Chiyo summoned two puppets to stab Sasori's heart.

He died while dropping a scroll on the ground after speaking to Chiyo and a barely conscious Sakura who couldn't decipher anything that he had said.

Chiyo stood up shaking and walked in front of Sakura, catching her with chakra strings before she fell to the ground.

A sweet darkness began to blanket Sakura's mind and the sound of rushing water and rapid wind filled her ears.


	4. Chapter 4

Sakura knew for a fact that she had just been in a caved in underground Akatsuki's base dying, not in a graveyard

**Authors note: I do not own Naruto**

Sakura knew for a fact that she had just been in a caved in underground Akatsuki's base dying, not in a graveyard. Or could it be that Kohona had already had her funeral and she was now a wondering ghost? That would have been her guess had it been for the fact that Kohona's burial sites looked nothing like the one she was in. Tombstones with designs varying from angels to devils to rabbit designs covered the grass valley for as far as the eye could see. The tombstones reached heights from as tall as buildings to as tall a Kakashi's dog Pakkun. Tombstones covered the grassy earth for as far as the eye could see. Sakura looked around noticing a slight fog start to form in the gloomy moon light graveyard.

"Haruno."

Sakura looked around frantically after hearing a familiar voice call her name.

"Riyou-Sama?" Sakura whispered. Then she noticed someone in a black robe with their face covered with the robes black hat carrying a scythe walking up to her. She was to scared to move so she just stayed still until the robed figure was right in front of her.

"Welcome to Shigakure Cutie-Chan" Said the robbed figure who removed his robe to reveal his face and body.

"Riyou-Sama! Is that you? You look different." Sakura exclaimed while staring at the person in front of her.

Riyou's red hair was no longer in a pony tail it was loose and flowing around his feet,

His hair still had the Kimimoru like part except it was straight instead off zigzag. The bangs in front of his face had grown out to reach his shoulders. His features had become more defined taking him from cute when Sakura had first met him to a new refined hot. Sakura allowed her gaze to go down to his shirtless chest which was chiseled. He was definitely still in tip top shape.

"If you drool anymore you'll flood the graves." Said Riyou while smirking.

Sakura blushed, but soon forgot her embarrassment as he remembered when Riyou took his sudden leave of absence.

"Riyou-Sama! Where did you go! I haven't seen you for 3 years!" Sakura yelled while walking right up to Riyou's face.

"You've inherited the Hokages temper I see. Though I wonder what you inherited from me, your Riyou-Sama?"

"I'll tell you what I didn't inherit! Your damn love for vanishing acts!" Yelled Sakura as she poked Riyou in the chest.

Riyou was about to grab her wrist when he noticed that she had stopped and was starring at the ground, and water was leaking from her eyes.

"I-I thought that you had abandoned me like Sasuke-Kun… 3 years and not one single hello, or young grasshopper! What kind of sensei are you? Tsunade was always there! " Sakura cried pulling her wrist from his grasp to wipe at her eyes.

Riyou stared at her with a hurt look on his face.

"Did it hurt to feel like you were abandoned again?" Riyou asked in a serious tone.

Sakura looked up at him with rage in her eyes.

"What do you think?" Sakura verbally lashed out at him.

"Good. I'm glade." Riyou said

"You're glade? What the hell!" Sakura was interrupted.

"If you hate abandonment then you'll either do two things with your life, you'll swear to never abandon anyone one and that will make you loyal, or you'll want everyone around you to hurt like you do, and spend your life full of rage. Haruno get use to the fact that nothing is forever, not even life or death people come and go… So don't get too attached eh Cutie-chan?"

Sakura stared back down at the ground again, and then back up at him with tears in her eyes but determination.

"I haven't cried like this since I was a genin. You know sensei you're worst than Kakashi and his profound excuses for being late, except yours are to explain disappearing for three years. I understand. I'm not weak anymore Sensei you won't ever see me cry again." Sakura smiled.

"Cutie-chan your tears are a marker for the being of your journey, you were after all crying when we met. Well now young grasshopper let's get down to business." Riyou said.

"Riyou-sama is this really Shigakure? Where are all of the people, and how did I get here I was…"

"I know where you were. You died Haruno. Right now as we speak the blonde boy is in turmoil, because he can only have one of his friends brought back to life and the Kazekage is more important than an everyday shinobi that just happens to be the Hokages apprentice." Said Riyou with his arms crossed in front of his chest and his scythe floating beside him.

"I… I'm dead?" Sakura stuttered.

"Yep as dead as dead can get. I'm pissed about it because traditionally myself or the elders kill new Shigakure shinobi. Well might as well get you back after I make you officially a Shigakure shinobi. Hold still Cutie-Chan this is going to hurt."

"What's going to hurt?" Sakura asked staring at him while he grabbed his scythe and started to walk around her in circles looking at her up and down. For some odd reason reasons inspection of her made her blush.

"Haruno have a seat."

Sakura did as Riyou said and sat on the ground which was as cold as ice, though she refuse to complain. While she was thinking about how cold the ground was Riyou had bit his finger and drew blood. He took his blood and ran around Sakura drawing a bloody circle around her along with other symbols. Then he started to run around her faster forming hand signs and chanting. The circle started glowing a vibrant pink, and then it became red. Sakura's was forced on her back on to the ground by a strong gust of wind and then her body began to levitate.

"We're would you like your forehead protector to be?" Riyou asked the floating Sakura as he stopped running and ceased chanting but continued making hand signs.

Sakura thought for a minute before deciding.

"You can choose." She said calmly.

"Are you sure? The methods I use to attach a forehead protector are really painful."

Riyou didn't wait for Sakura's reply as he continued to form hand signs and she dropped hard to the ground, and water began to wrap around her wrist and ankles pinning her down. Riyou jumped up above Sakura with his scythe and screamed.

"Wrath!"

Then he fell down towards Sakura, and before his body could make impact with hers he stopped floating gently above her. He stared into her no longer calm but fearful eyes. His scythe shrunk into a miniature version the side of a gumdrop he placed it underneath Sakura's Kohona's forehead protector, and fire wrapped around his body, he touched Sakura's forehead, and chest where her heart is and then the spot where he placed the scythe. As soon as he finished he jumped back landing on his feet as flames wrapped around Sakura body.

It felt like she was being burned alive. It hurt so bad she couldn't hold back her screams.

"Ahhh! Make it stop! It hurts!" She yelled as her tears became engulfed in the flames."

"It's almost other." Riyou said with a pained expression on his face.

It seemed like it lasted for an eternity before the flames began to subside, and Sakura breathed heavy and curled up into the fetal position crying. Water circled around Riyou's body and then flew to Sakura. As the water touched her skin her heavy breathing subsided along with her sobs as she just laid in the fetal position with her eyes closed tight.

"Old woman Chiyo chose to bring the Kazekage back instead, she must have felt that you've become a Shigakure ninja. I'll take you back." Riyou said while staring at Sakura sadly.

Riyou formed hand signs knelt down beside Sakura.

"I'm going to heal you ok?" Riyou said as his hand glowed green and then became orange he formed hand signs and the glow covered Sakura's body.

As the pain completely disappeared Sakura didn't move, she was scared to, scared that the pain might start up again.

"It's over are you ok?" Riyou asked as he noticed Sakura began to move.

Sakura turned over and laid on her back.

"What was that?" She asked as she stared at the sky without blinking.

"Transformations hurt a lot if you're not born a Shikagure shinobi or if you're not related to one." Riyou lifted her up into his arms bride style. When she didn't protest he began to talk to her again.

"When you return back you'll notice things that you didn't notice before. You'll see inside of people, so don't be surprise if you see something inside of someone that will scare you." He said as he held her close.

Sakura didn't speak she just stared at the sky and then she started hearing screams.

"Naruto!" She heard Naruto's name being screamed she looked around and noticed that she was back on earth in a forest clearing. Riyou still held her in his arms. She looked to see what all of the noise was and then it was like her heart stopped. Naruto had transformed to his Kyuubi form he had four tails and he was crying over someone on the ground. Sakura looked closer and discovered that it was her. Naruto was crying over her dead body, his fist were trembling with sadness and rage and the demon cloak embraced him. Kakashi, Team Gai, the Kazekage and a group of Sand shinobi where standing away from him watching in terror.

"Sakura-Chan! S...sh... She's gone! The Akatsuki bastard killed her!" Naruto yelled as another tail started forming.

"Riyou-Sama please put me back in my body, Naruto… he's hurting." Sakura looked at the blonde, and felt pain in her heart. Riyou put her down on the ground; she slowly walked over to Naruto. Even though no one could see her, Naruto seemed to have felt her presence as he looked straight up towards where she was approaching him.

Sakura smiled weakly at him. Naruto rubbed his eyes.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked like he was seeing a ghost.

"You can see me?" Sakura asked him.

"Sakura-chan is that really you? But how?" Naruto stuttered. All the by standers just watched on with their expression going from horror to fear, they all thought that Naruto had finally been driven insane by the Kyuubi.

"Baka. Did you really think that I'd die that easily? If I could hit you right now I would."

Sakura said while closing in on him.

"Haruno I'm going to have to appear in front of your friends to connect your body back with your soul." Riyou said as Naruto jumped in front of Sakura trying to protect her.

"Naruto it's ok, he's a friend he's going to help bring me back to life." Sakura told Naruto who looked at her and then at Riyou and backed off.

Naruto faced everyone around him still in the demons cloak.

"Sakura-chan is coming back dattebayo!" Naruto cheered as the demon cloak began to disappear he fainted.

Water and wind began to appear in swirls near Sakura's body and Riyou appeared.

He leant down by Sakura. Before he could began to put her soul back in her body ninja's came at him with Kunai.

"Trust me I wouldn't hurt her or anyone from her village. I'm here to help her, so either stand down, or I'll put her before you and kill you to get you out of my way." Riyou said as a wall of water formed between him, Naruto, Sakura and the ninja.

"I thought so." Riyou said, and then began to form rapid hand signs while chanting, and then he leant down to Sakura's body and put his forehead against her.

"Sensei what are you doing to my body?" Sakura asked as she watched Riyou lean closer, and then it happened. He did the unthinkable, and Sakura blushed.

"You… You stole my first kiss!"

Everyone watched on wide eyed at Riyou over Sakura's body. Before Sakura could get more upset she feel to the ground and her vision started fading she blanked repeatedly. When Sakura's vision cleared she looked up to see Riyou over her with a smirk on his lips. Sakura was pissed. She pushed Riyou back making him fall on his but.

"You! You! You bastard! You stole my first kiss! I'm going to break every bone in your body and then heal you and do it all over again!" Sakura yelled slowly making her way to the smirking Riyou on the ground, until she heard gasps. Sakura looked up to see everyone looking at her through the wall of water as if they seen a ghost.

"Can they see me?" She asked no one in particular.

"Your back in your body now Cutie-chan, of coarse they see you. Your still a young grasshopper I see." Riyou smiled.

Sakura became enraged again.

"You kiss stealing bastard!" Sakura yelled as she charged at him and punched him in the chin. Strangely enough his chin felt like wood. Sakura looked at where her fist connected with his chin to see a log.

"A substitution jutsu! When I find you!" Sakura looked around and then her eyes found Naruto laying unconscious on the ground she rushed over to him and sat down beside him.

"Naruto…" Sakura whispered as she put her hand on his head attempting to heal him, but Riyou caught her hand.

"You can't use anymore chakra then you already used trying to punch me. Your chakra isn't fully restored after your initiation. The Kyuubi will heal him." Riyou told her as he formed hand signs and the wall of water vanished.

"I'll see you soon Cutie-chan." He leant close to Sakura's ear and whispered "You taste nice; I'm glade that I was your first kiss and you were mine." And then he disappeared in a swirl of water and wind.

All of a sudden Sakura started feeling sleepy. She put her head on the softest thing near, Naruto's shoulder and fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

"Naruto how is she going to rest if you keep talking

**Author's note: Sorry I haven't updated recently, school work has reared its ugly head again…but, on a happier note I'm trying to make up for it by posting a longer chapter. Sakura X other Naruto characters is starting up soon. Review please: Likes dislikes, concerns, I'm interested. Doomo arigatou gozaimasu! **

**Oh yeah…I do not own Naruto.**

"Naruto how is she going to rest if you keep talking?" Kakashi scolded naruto from behind his orange Icha Icha Paradise book as he leaned against the hospital room's wall.

"I just want to ask her what happened." Naruto whined

"Trust me. We all have questions." Kakashi looked at the hyperactive blond with a serious look gracing his features.

"Dying? The crows…" Sakura mumbled in her sleep.

Naruto put his ear near her mouth to listen to her. Sakura noise wrinkled in her sleep and she started sniffing Naruto.

"Pickled Ramen, I think I'm going to vomit… Naruto ew…." Sakura continued to mumble in her sleep, as Naruto stared at her.

"Sakura-chan is waking up dattebayo!" Naruto shouted while pumping a fist in the air.

Before Kakashi could cover the Ramen addict's mouth Sakura sat up fast and started looking around frantically.

"Look she's up!" Naruto yelled.

Kakashi rolled his eyes as he dug his knuckles into Naruto's scalp.

"Where am I?" Sakura asked staring at her team mates.

"You don't remember Sakura-Chan?" Naruto asked.

Sakura put a finger on her chin and tilted her head while starring up at the ceiling's light.

"Remember what…. Is their something I should remember?"

Kakashi stared at Sakura seriously.

"Sakura, can you recall what happened to you during your fight with one of the Akatsuki members?" Kakashi asked.

"The Akatsuki I fought the Akatsuki?" Sakura asked wide-eyed.

"Sakura-Chan! You have to remember! You had dy..."

Before Naruto could finish telling her that she died Kakashi put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Come on Naruto we have to talk to the Kazekage, and Tsunade they've been waiting for her to wake up for 3 weeks.

"But Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto whined, as Kakashi dragged him out of the room and shut the door.

"What was Naruto talking about?" Sakura asked herself.

Sakura honestly couldn't remember what had happened, she remembered healing the Kazekage's brother Kankuro and then leaving with team Gai, and Chiyo to find Gaara, after that her memories seemed to draw blanks.

"And where am I?" Sakura wondered glancing around the room. Sakura noticed that she was in a sandy brown hospital room with a single small vent like window on the farthest wall from the wooden door of her room.

"Suna?" Sakura recognized the hospital room as being similar to the one she was in when she healed Kankuro.

"How did I get back In Suna?"

"The mission…? Did something happen during the mission to cause me to loose my memory?" Sakura frantically thought to herself as she

Searched her mind for reasons to why she couldn't remember everything that Naruto had been rambling about.

"Three weeks! Didn't Naruto say I've been asleep for three weeks and Tsunade-sama and the Kazekage is waiting to see me!?" Sakura asked herself out loud.

"Wait! The Kazekage? Then we didn't fail the mission, but why can't I remember any of it?" Sakura asked herself.

Deciding that it was time she figured out what happened to her during the mission Sakura

Swung her legs over the side of the bed. She stood up a little wobbly at first but started running chakra into her legs. She stopped when she noticed her usual green chakra wasn't pure green anymore it had speaks of black spots in it. She increased the chakra flow in her hands to study the peculiar black spots. As she increased her chakra she felt a pleasant chill run up and down her spine. The feeling made her legs become wobbly again and she fell back on to the bed.

Images began to bombard Sakura's mind. ..." Images of Sakura getting impaled by two swords and dying flashed through her mind, and then the most painful experience of her life flashed in her head. Sakura remembered the flames that encircled her body during the ceremony Riyou had put her through. "I died…" Sakura was still in slight disbelief, of being brought back from the dead, and the ceremony that Riyou had put her through.

"I died I actually died..."

"Go away bushy brows! Tsunade-Baa-chan! Why is bushy-Brows here he isn't even on our team!?"

"I want to see my youthful flower!"

"Sakura-chan is not yours?!"

"Will you two shut up!? Kakashi shut them up before I do, put that damn book away!"

Sakura could hear voices arguing out side her door, and then the door flew open.

"My beautiful youthful flower, I Kohona's greatest taijutsu master next to Gai-sensei has come to see you! I vow to…" The voice trailed off.

"Sakura-chan!"

Hearing someone scream her name loud by her bedside snapped her out of her trance. Sakura sat up fast, and felt something wet on her face. She brought her hand to her face but before it could touch her face she stopped it in front of her face. Her hand was still covered in that odd chakra. Looking at her arm and then her legs, she noticed her whole body was covered in that chakra. Sakura touched the chakra covered hand to her face and felt the wet liquid bringing it back to look at. Tears. She had been crying… but why she didn't feel sad, just shocked that she died. She shouldn't be crying, her chakra alone created a pleasurable tingling sensation that ran up and down her spine, yet her eyes continued to cry. Sakura wasn't sad but it was like her soul was crying like it had lost something important. Something irreplaceable.

"Sakura-chan… What's wrong!?" Sakura slowly turned her head to face the voice that continued to call her name and that instant she wished that she hadn't. She turned to the voice that she recognized as Naruto's but what was there… a demonic nine tail fox.

Everyone in the room began to look at Sakura strangle, wondering why she was covered in a strange powerful chakra, and crying and why she was suddenly scared of Naruto.

"Stay away from me?!" Sakura stuttered as she slowly backed away climbing from out of her bed to a corner.

"Sakura-chan what's wrong!?" the demonic nine tailed fox advanced reaching out a clawed hand to her.

"Sakura calm down." Sakura glanced behind the demonic beast in front of her to see Tsunade approaching her with a green glowing hand. Sakura focused her attention on Tsunade's hand.

"A sedative." Sakura thought out loud.

"Sakura calm down." Tsunade soothingly spoke while approaching Sakura. "This must be a side effect of being brought back to life." Tsunade thought remembering how Kakashi and Naruto had described Gaara as being fine admit tired but fine none the less when he was brought back to life by Chiyou; however days later he fell into a deep sleep, and awoke in a panic, chakra surging frenzy. His siblings were there for the worst of it. After his moments of fear of all that approached him he went into shear rage trying to kill everyone, and even without the Shukaku he had caused a large amount of damage. Tsunade knew that she had to subdue her apprentice; if what's happening to her is anything like what Gaara went through she had to do it fast.

"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto yelled noticing Sakura clenching both sides of her head so hard that she was drawing blood.

"Naruto get away from her! Kakashi, Rock Lee get Naruto out of here now!" Tsunade yelled.

Sakura watched as Kakashi ran at the nine tailed demon fox and hit a point on its neck making it collapse, and then he a Rock lee carried it out of the room. Sakura failed to notice how close Tsunade had made it to her. Tsunade hand was an inch away from Sakura's forehead. Sakura's Chakra flared even higher and she vanished.

"Damn it!" Tsunade yelled, turning around to find Sakura standing behind her still clutching at her head.

"Argh!" Sakura yelled in a frustrated growl, as she anxiously glanced from Tsunade to the door. Tsunade noticed this.

"Damn it why'd I have to win the lottery this morning!" Tsunade yelled to herself realizing that any luck she had would always be a bad omen. "It's now or never." She sighed as she rushed at Sakura and hit her forehead with her glowing green palm. Upon impact Sakura poof-ed into white smoke.

"A clone! When the hell did she do that!?" Tsunade tried to sense Sakura's Chakra but it was nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile.

Sakura ran through the sandy hospital looking for an exit, and when she couldn't find one she decided to make one and punched a crater like hole in a hospital wall. After the dust cleared she looked out of the hole to see citizens scattering below. Sakura turned around to see sand shinobi, and slowly back up to her newly created exit, and fell through it back first. Her hospital gown billowed around her, the warm arm brushed against her back through the gown's open backside exposing her Black ninja shorts and white chest bindings. Sakura face now held on anger as she did a back flip in the air so that she was now falling face first.

Sakura crossed her arms in front of her face and flared her chakra higher. Before she could hit the ground she jerked back. Something like grains of sand dug into the exposed skin of her back, and encircled her waist. Before Sakura could touch whatever was wrapped around her, she went flying backwards at a rapid speed and was pulled back through the hole that she created at the side of Suna's hospital.

Sakura came to an abrupt stop in the hallway surrounded by Sand shinobi, and an angry Tsunade with a green glowing hand. Sakura began to struggle against whatever held her.

"Hurry. Her chakra is cutting through my sand." Sakura heard a raspy voice state calmly before she was knocked out by Tsunade's palm against her forehead.


	6. Chapter 6

"You're weak

**Author's note: **Sorry that I haven't updated recently. In this chapter Sakura may seem a bit occ, but not really she's just experiencing a road of changes that will occur as she goes deeper into what it means to wear the Shigakure head band, that plus the side effects of the technique used to bring people back to life.

I Do Not Own Naruto!

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"**You're weak."**

"**Protect Sakura-chan!"**

"**Watch out!"**

"**You're annoying."**

"**Sakura stand back!" **

"**Sakura-chan, don't get between me and Sasuke again!"**

"**Thank you."**

Every time she fell asleep she would dream of her teammates. Sakura awoke from her nightmare. Opening her eyes to stare up at a dark brown ceiling, she whispered to herself.

"I was never really apart of their world… I was just a shadow, but I won't be a shadow anymore it's time Riyou-sensei takes my training seriously."

"So you're up." Slowly sitting up Sakura looked around her but couldn't make out any shapes in the dark room. Then a light flickered on in the room, revealing that she was yet once again back in Suna's hospital. Looking across from her Sakura saw a figure lying down in a hospital bed with IV hooked to his arms. The figure was still lying down but staring at the ceiling, the only visible feature was his slightly unruly red hair.

"That voice could that be…Gaara-sama?" Sakura thought out loud to herself.

"Hn." The person in a bed across from her replied.

"So it is Gaara-sama but why is he in my room?" Sakura wondered.

"Do you recall what happened yesterday?" He asked

Sakura thought about the events leading to her being placed in the hospital again, and yes she remembered. Her emotions and chakra went haywire.

"My chakra!" Sakura thought remembering how odd it had looked yesterday how it had black spots in it. Bringing her hand in front of her she tried to focus her chakra to her hand but it wouldn't come, and she tried again but still nothing.

"This room acts as a chakra binder." Gaara answered her unheard question in a tired voice.

Sakura looked over at the Kazekage lying on a bed across from her.

"Why are you in my room?" Sakura warily asked him.

"Your room?"

Sakura decided to rephrase her question.

"Gomen. Kazekage-sama but, why are we in the same room?" Sakura asked him nervously fidgeting with her fingers.

"It's Gaara. The method used to revive the dead apparently has side effects, which you've experienced yesterday."

"Um." Sakura agreed.

"When I was revived the side effects weren't immediate; however when I returned and fell asleep I experienced the same symptoms as yourself." Gaara stated seeming bored.

"Sleep?" Sakura asked remembering hearing how Gaara could never go to sleep.

"Shukaku was extracted so I can sleep now."

"Kaze-Gaara-sama… still why are you here?"

At this question Gaara decided to sit up and put his back against the headboard and stare calmly at Sakura, who seemed to fidget more under his gaze.

"This room is the only room in Suna that can bind large amounts of chakra. The council are worried that I may still wake up and go on another rampage."

"Oh." Sakura said turning her gaze back to the ceiling. Gaara just continued to stare at her.

"Why is it that you wear two forehead protectors?" Gaara asked, causing Sakura's attention to immediately turn to him.

"Two forehead protectors?" Sakura felt atop her head, only feeling the Kohona forehead protector, and then remembered her Shigakure protector. "He can't see my Shigakure forehead protector? Can he?" Sakura thought to herself going wide-eyed momentarily.

"Ano. Gaara-sama what do you mean?" Sakura nervously asked the read headed Kazekage.

"Theirs a black forehead protector floating over your Konohagakure forehead protector why are you wearing it?"

"I'm sorry Gaara-sama but I don't know what you're talking about, maybe it's a side effect of being brought back from the dead like… hallucinations."

"Elder Chiyo she wore the same forehead protector, I saw it on her after I was revived."

"He can… he see Shigakure shinobi forehead protectors?" Sakura nervously thought about Shigakure suddenly becoming not so hidden anymore. She couldn't lie to him, or maybe she could he seems to be the only one who can see it so no one would believe him, but she decided against lying to him.

"I'm sorry I can't tell you, you should forget about it…ok?" Sakura asked looking at her hands.

"Kunoichi. My village is allied with Konohagakure, and if one of their shinobi are involved in suspicious activities it concerns my village. I'm still feeling a little violent, either answer me or I'll make you, it's your choice." Gaara told her as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Did he just threaten me?" Sakura thought to her self baffled, and then her nervous features calmed and she closed her eyes to let a smile grace her lips. In Sakura's genin years she would have been scared to death of any threat that came from the unstable red head, especially after he had pinned her to a tree during the chunin exams, but she wasn't a genin anymore, and after all the pain she went through to become a Shigakure shinobi, she wasn't going to choose now to revert to being a weak little girl.

"Kunoichi."

"Haruno Sakura." Sakura said eyes still closed as she leaned her back against the headboard and placed her hands on her lap.

"Kunoichi."

Sakura opened her eyes at the irritated tone of the redhead's voice.

"Gaara-sama is Kankuro-san doing well?" Sakura stared at the redhead with a soft caring expression on her face.

Gaara stared at her. He knew that she was trying to avoid answering what he asked her, and apparently she wasn't taking his threats seriously.

"Chiyo-sama didn't bring you back to life, though I was tired I saw what happened. A man brought you back to life, and he didn't die afterwards."

Sakura became tense.

"The man wore that same black forehead protector that you are wearing over you're Konohagakure forehead protector."

"Kazekage –sama am I being interrogated?" Sakura asked staring the red head in his eyes with a determined look on her face.

"Hn. You can answer my questions or you can answer your Hokage's questions. Normally I could careless, but like I said if you're a threat to Konohagakure then you are a threat to Sunagakure."

"A threat?" Sakura tensed even more, where was the Kazegake going with his questioning? And how could he have figured out so much just from that scene of my revival? How can he have seen Riyou-sama's forehead protector?" Sakura wondered to herself nervously.

"What should I do? I can't tell him about Shigakure…or Riyou-sama."

Just when Sakura was about to open her mouth, the hospital room's door opened, and Tsunade, stepped in closing the door behind her.

Sakura didn't want to look her sensei in the eyes, so she just stared at her hands.

"Sakura." Tsunade called her name in a calm yet stern tone forcing Sakura to look up at her sensei.

The minute Sakura looked up at her sensei she looked back down again and started ranting out apologies.

"Forgive me Tsunade-Sama for attacking you yesterday, I didn't want to but I couldn't control myself…"

"Sakura stop your rambling!" Sakura stopped immediately and looked at her sensei.

Tsunade had her back leaning against a wall and her hands on her hips.

"Sakura…" Tsunade was interrupted as the doors burst opened to reveal Kohona's favorite hyper active blonde looking like someone destroyed the world's supply of Ramen; he looked around the room frantically until his eyes landed on Sakura. A worried expression replaced the angry look on Naruto's face. Naruto looked as if he was hesitant to approach Sakura at first until he rushed over to her and hugged her tightly.

At this Sakura was stunned, why was he acting so emotional? She didn't die again. Maybe it was just that maybe he was worried about her getting hurt… maybe he was worried about her getting hurt because he still saw her like her genin self… weak.

"Baka! Get off!" Sakura yelled at Naruto hitting him upside his head. Naruto got off of her and smiled sheepishly at her while rubbing the newly forming knot on his head.

"Who in the hell let you in here? I swear Kohona is going to be short one perverted book reading Jounin! Kakashi!" Tsunade yelled as she rubbed the forming vein on her forehead out of irritation.

"Yo." Kakashi said after slowly walking through the hospital room's door reading his favorite orange book.

"Didn't I ask you to keep Naruto away while I talked to my student?" Tsunade asked the calm copy-nin as she continued to rub her forehead.

"Tsunade-Baa-chan you can't keep me away from Sakura-chan!" Naruto growled at the already annoyed Hokage.

Tsunade began bawling up her fist ready to knock the daylights out of the hyperactive blonde. Kakashi decided to step in and defuse the slowly becoming deadly situation.

"Sakura how are you feeling." Kakashi asked Sakura.

Sakura didn't want to tell them how she really felt, irritated and tired, so she decided to go straight to what she knew they were going to ask her.

"I remember what happened the day I died…" Her stop in mid sentence and the beginning of the answer to the questions they wanted to ask her made Tsunade and Naruto both turn and look at her.

"Sakura-chan…." Naruto trailed off.

"I was killed during my fight with Chiyo-sama against the Akatsuki member named Sasori, and after that I remember waking up lying on the ground… It was like I had been sleeping for a long time. Before I woke up I could hear Naruto calling me… It was like I was there but I was invisible, but Naruto was able to see me… It was like I was a ghost; I could see my body but I couldn't touch it. I would have died permanently if it wasn't for…"

Sakura stopped talking and looked up to see everyone watching her with sad looks on their faces. Sakura was trying to figure out a way to tell them about the person who revived her, but she didn't want to tell them the truth, that she was revived by a Shigakure shinobi and that now she was a Shigakure shinobi so she decided to tell them what she could without giving too much away. She knew that Gaara knew more than anyone else in that room, how he knew she wasn't sure, but if they couldn't see her Shigakure forehead protector, than anything Gaara could say about it would make it seem that he was crazy and hallucinating and Sakura was willing to bet that he knew that too, and he was waiting for her to say what he couldn't. The Kazekage would have to be pissed with her, because she wasn't going to tell anyone about Shigakure.

"The person who brought me back to life was my friend; we met a long time ago." Sakura said still tense hoping that no one would ask her to tell them more about him, but fate had decided to be cruel when Naruto opened his mouth.

"Bushy-Brows told me that he saw that guy kiss you, who was he? He was a ninja… but he didn't have a forehead protector… Why did he kiss you? Why didn't he die like old lady Chiyo had died to bring Gaara back? how do you know him?" Naruto asked his look of sadness going to a look between annoyance and jealousy.

Sakura unconsciously touched her lips as a small blush appeared on her face. She thought back to when Riyou had kissed her.

"Well?" Sakura heard Tsunade ask, snapping her out of her thoughts.

After realizing she was touching her lips she put her hand back on her lap and blushed deeper.

"We met when I was a genin, and yes he is a ninja. He and Chiyo-Sama knew each other that's why he knew the technique that she used; he didn't die using the technique because he learned the technique's flaw and figured how to use it without dying. He does have a forehead protector but he doesn't like to wear it and show it to other's and ask for why he kissed me… I'm not sure." Sakura blushed a light pink again.

"What village is he from? And where did you meet him?" Tsunade asked the blushing apprentice medic-nin.

Sakura stopped blushing when she heard Tsunade asked what village her Shikagure sensei was from but she wasn't sure how to answer that so she lied.

"I met him in Kohona at the hospital, he was a patient there. I'm not sure what village he's from… he's never really told me."

"He never told you?" Tsunade asked stunned "Well that doesn't matter, if he was a patient in Konoha's hospital then I'm sure he's on record, I'll just have Shizune find out. We need to leave to Konohagakure today…I'm sure Jiraya is driving the village elders mad." Tsunade said smiling slightly. Tsunade turned around fast like she just realized something.

"Kazekage forgive me, I forgot that you were stationed in the same room as my apprentice." Tsunade said looking at the pissed off looking Gaara who was staring at Sakura. Sakura noticed this and stared back at him.

"I like to see him try to tell them what he knows" Sakura thought to herself smiling slightly at the Kazekage who seemed to become more irritated at her.

"Tsunade-Sama will the Kazekage-sama be ok to return to his duties or are the elders still worried about him?" Sakura asked Tsunade who turned around to face her and then back to Gaara.

"I see he told you, well I talked to the old grumps and told them that your chakra has become stable again and the side effects of being brought back from the dead plus the extraction of the Shukaku have settled; Though they aren't fully gone, they're nothing to worry about just a mild case of crankiness, so you'll be fine to return back to work Kazekage-san." Tsunade informed the still irritated Gaara, who just 'Hn-ed' as a reply as he still stared at Sakura.

"Is it ok if I get ready to return, Tsunade-Sama?"

"Your chakra returned back to normal when I put you under sedation, but you won't be able to train for at least a week. We're heading back in an hour, your cloths and pack or in the next room over so get ready."

Sakura pulled the covers off of her and saw that she was still in a hospital gown; she didn't want to get up in front of everyone with a bare backside, so she wrapped the hospital sheet around her and dashed out of the room into the hallway. She wondered which room Tsunade was talking about because there were two rooms next to the one she just left.

"This one." Sakura turned around to see Tsunade leaning against a door on the left side of the room she just left.

"Thank you." Sakura said as she dashed into the room, but before Sakura could make it all the way in Tsunade had caught her arm, and then pulled her into a hug, and pulled away quickly.

"Try to not get yourself killed on the next mission, I literally drunk my weight in sake." And with that Tsunade walked away.

Sakura just stood in the door way, stunned for a moment at her usually violent sensei moment of caring, but she soon snapped out of it, and walked into the hospital room to get dressed.

Just like Tsunade said her spare clothes, medic pack, and ninja sandals were waiting for her in the sandy hospital room.

After Sakura got dressed in her usual ninja gear she walked out of the hospital room just to be stopped by the most recent person she pissed off and the last person that she wanted to see.

"You lied."

"Gomen, Kazekage-sama I need to get by." Sakura told Gaara who stood right in front of her door way in his Kazekage robe, blocking her way.

"You didn't take my threat seriously." Gaara said in a calm voice as he stared at Sakura with annoyance on his face.

Sakura looked at him with amusement in her eyes. Maybe she would take this moment to show that she wasn't scared of Gaara like she was during the chunin exams. Why was it that he wanted to play Mr. Good morals all of a sudden? Wasn't he being uncharacteristic, but then again he had changed at least that's what Naruto told her. Sakura decided that she wasn't in the mood to be threatened, being a Shigakure ninja meant that she had a chance to be reborn, to start a new; for her dying was like a new beginning, thus she now had a new look on life, and a new way to deal with pest.

Sakura began to lean closer to Gaara until her lips where an inch from his right ear and she whispered.

"Gaara-sama, don't worry I believe you." Sakura pulled back, wondering why Gaara didn't move, just to see that he had the same look on his face that he had at the chunin exams, looking down at her feet she noticed grains of sands swirling around her feet.

"Kazekage-sama, what are you doing? What will the elders think?" Sakura asked amused as she stared at the sand attempting to wrap around her legs. Sakura held up a hand in front of hers and Gaara's face trying to focus chakra to it, but none came.

"You lied Haruno."

Sakura felt the sand trailing up her body.

"Hey I heard that you'd be returning back to your position…"

Sakura looked behind Gaara to see Kankuro who stopped talking as he noticed his little brother attempting to encase the pink haired leaf kunoichi in sand.

Finally noticing that someone was behind him, Gaara dropped the sand that had made it half way up Sakura's body.

Sakura still looked amused, but then her amuse look turned into a happy expression.

"Hi Kankuro-san, Gaara-sama was just showing me that he was capable of using his sand without the Shukaku. I'm guessing that it must be a bloodline trait?" Sakura asked the weary Kankuro.

"Ah…" Kankuro started off.

"I'm sorry Gaara-sama, Kankuro-san but I really have to go now." Sakura said as she slide past Gaara and Kankuro and walked down the hallway in route to Suna's gates.

**Insert cliffy here:**


	7. Chapter 7

Sakura sighed as she got out of her warm bed

**Author's Note: Review dislike, likes, Concerns I'm all ears…unless (Holds breath) you want me to stop writing (TT). Arigato to those who have reviewed! **

**I Do Not Own Naruto, or its characters only my Occ and occ village. **

Sakura sighed as she got out of her warm bed.

"It's nice to be back in Kohona away from a Goody-two-shoe Kazekage."

Yep she's been home for three days and mission free. Sakura spent her three days secretly training on top of Kohona's hospital roof, in hopes of her ever elusive sensei Riyou showing up, but he never did.

After taking a shower and getting dressed in her regular ninja clothes Sakura left her parents house and made her way down the busy Kohona streets, and eventually winded up across the street from Ichiraku's ramen stand, where Kohona's favorite hyperactive blonde sat gulfing down noodles talking with Iruka-sensei.

Somehow, this scene made Sakura feel a bit of nostalgia.

Sakura remembered when Naruto and she were genin and how he would somehow manage to drag her and Sasuke to Ichiraku and Naruto and Sasuke would eventual start bickering, which lead to them fighting the next day in training harder than usual and Kakashi watching them as Sakura sat beneath a tree. They always did leave her out of every fight, and on rare occasions when they did include her in a fight, they would go easy on her and Sasuke would call her weak.

Sakura touched the top of her head where her Kohona forehead protector sat as a headband and underneath her Kohona forehead protector was her Shigakure forehead protector. As Sakura thought about her Shigakure forehead protector she felt renewed determination to find Riyou. Before Naruto could even sense her presence she ran off towards the direction of the hospital.

She ignored the nurses who asked her if she was on shift ahead of time and ran up to the hospital's roof closing the door behind her, and what she saw on the roof shocked her.

There was now a park on top the once concrete roof: swings, a slide, grass, trees and benches now adorned the roof.

"Cutie-chan."

Sakura recognized that voice as her sensei; she turned around quickly to find no one, but a heavy gust of wind.

"Cutie-chan, you don't have to worry about looking for me anymore, I here."

Sakura looked to her left, and then out of nowhere it was like a strong compacted gust of wind wrapped around her body and began controlling her movements making her walk casually to the set of swings stationed in the center of the play ground. The odd wind compacted wind pushed her down to sit on one of the two swings. Sakura finally gained control of her body after the wind disappeared and her eyes scanned the playground to look for the shinobi behind the voice.

Sakura heard the chains of the swing beside her rattle, she turned her head and there he was. Riyou sat on the swing next to her, in his black robe with his black hood covering his head, smirking at her.

"Oh don't look so mad cutie-chan I formed this undetectable genjutsu just for you." Riyou told her, smirk still in place.

"I thought I would have to hunt you down forever! I've been coming here since I got back from Suna! And wipe that smirk off your face pervert!" Sakura yelled as she attempted to get off of the swing just to find that yet again a strong concentrated wind held her in place.

"Pervert? Now what did I do to gain that title?" Riyou asked smirk becoming a look of concentration.

"Oh so you think it's perfectly normal to go around stealing kisses from women who can't punch you away because their stuck between life and death!" Sakura yelled fist tightening.

Riyou caught when she said 'women'.

"So when did you decide to call yourself a woman instead of a girl?" Riyou asked with a smile now gracing his lips.

"Huh?" Sakura asked anger still intact.

"You would always say you didn't want to be a weak little girl, and here we are you are a woman…what changed?" Riyou looked her up and down slowly "Besides puberty." He said as he smirked. Sakura noticed his roaming eyes, and a vain in her forehead began throbbing, she balled up her fist tighter and shook it at him angrily, and blushed.

"Oh I don't know… maybe it was because some perverted sensei took advantage of my first kiss!" Sakura told him angrily as she shook her fist in his face.

Riyou grabbed her fist, and stared into her eyes with an even bigger smirk.

"So my kiss alone took you from being a girl to a woman? What would other things that I could do to you make you?" Riyou said as he let his other hand gently stroked the side of her face while his free hand continued to hold her fist.

Sakura stared at him. The anger now replaced by pure and utter embarrassment. She was beet red and speechless. Riyou's stroking of her cheek and the intense way his blue eyes stared into hers, plus his smirk wasn't helping at all. Her heart was beating so fast she felt like it might explode.

"W—what are you doing?" Sakura managed to stutter out.

"I just like how your face turns a lovely shade of red… are you flustered cutie-chan?" Riyou cooed still smirking.

Sakura still remained speechless until Riyou released her fist and began laughing, which brought Sakura's anger back all over again.

"What's so funny!?" Sakura yelled.

"It's odd I never really laugh… at least not like this, you're a funny pupil Haruno" Riyou sad his laugh calmed down slowly to be replaced by seriousness.

"I heard about what happened in Suna." Riyou told her as he stared at her with a stern expression.

"I- I went out of control." Sakura said anger finally vanishing to be replaced by guilt.

"Though that is part of what I want to talk to you about I'm more concerned about what was asked of you when you awoke again."

"They asked me about you… but I didn't give anything away, but Tsunade-sama said that she would check the hospital records to find out who you are."

"That doesn't bother me. 3 years ago when I was in the hospital here like I told you when we met I was here to gather information, so you can pretty much sum up that I didn't use my real name as a patient."

"Ano… what might make a person who isn't a Shigakure shinobi able to see our forehead protectors?" Sakura asked looking down.

"Let me guess Kyuubi-kun or the Kazekage was able to see your forehead protector?"

Sakura looked up at him.

"How did you know?" Sakura asked shocked.

"Demons or demon holders can see them."

"But Gaara he had his Shukaku demon removed how was he able to see it, and Naruto has the Kyuubi and he's suppose to be able to see it right? But he hasn't said anything about it."

At this Riyou sighed.

"Do you really think that a person who had a demon implanted in them at birth and lived with it for so many years just goes back to being your everyday normal human? That brat is going to be messed up for the rest of his life, and ask for your Kyuubi-kun if he hasn't noticed it by now then his demon must not want him to see it."

"What do you mean?"

"About who? The brat who threatened you or Kyuubi-kun?"

"How did you know that Gaara-sama threatened me?"

"I have spies everywhere, and your teammates just happened to be in Suna watching you that day."

"Kakashi-sensei and Naruto?" Sakura asked slightly confused.

"No your Shigakure teammates, you didn't think I was going to let you be the first one person cell of the village now did you? And that brings me to one of the other reasons I'm here. I came to take you to see all Shigakure, and meet your teammates."

Completely forgetting her question of why Naruto demon didn't want Naruto to see her Shigakure forehead protector, or why Gaara would be messed up for the rest of his life Sakura blurted out another question.

"See it? But I did, and by the way what kind of village was that? It was a graveyard." Sakura asked him a look of confusion gracing her features.

"Didn't I say that I was going to take you to see all of it? What you saw was actually the gateway joining Shigakure to the outside world, its Shigakure's graveyard, but I wish to show you the rest of Shigakure." Riyou told her in a calm voice with a slight smile on his lips.

"Will I have to die again?" Sakura asked starring at him wearily.

"Not unless you enjoy it, though you will develop an odd view of it in time Cutie-chan. being a Shigakure ninja means that you can enter our village as much as you want with permission of course." He told her.

Sakura looked as if she had remembered something that she's been trying to recall for days.

"The Kage! I've never met Shigakure's Kage! Riyou-sama… does the Kage know you made me a ninja?" Sakura asked Riyou.

"Only elders or the Kage himself can make a person a Shigakure ninja young grasshopper. Do you really think that Shigakure let's any level shinobi go out and play shinobi maker?" Riyou asked her.

"Elder or Kage? …" Before Sakura could question Riyou further he interrupted her

A smirk graced Riyou's features once again.

"Elder's or Kage's so you'll have to see which one I am when we get there."

"Get there? But how?" Sakura asked him still confused.

"You have a lot of questions today don't you young grass-hopper, but I guess I'll humor you. Where ever dead bodies lay there is a gateway, to Shikagure that gets you there right away. So… we'll either have to kill a few civilians to get there…" Riyou paused.

A horrified look came onto Sakura's face which Riyou stopped talking to smirk even more, and then started talking again.

"Or we'll just go to Konohagakure's burial site." Riyou smiled.

"Was that some kind of sick twisted humor?" Sakura asked horror replaced with slight anger.

"No, it's true. The only way to cross between Shikagure and this world is through areas where death has touched. In a battle field of the fallen, in a hospital's morgue, or if you create it yourself… but you're too good to cross that line yet young-grasshopper, but soon you'll see death in a different light, you'll notice changes in yourself, or perhaps you already have. You did after all mock Sunagakure's brat Kazekage right in his face."

Sakura thought to herself. What Riyou was saying made sense, she was changing slowly. The old Sakura would have never lied so much as the Sakura now, or mock a higher ranking person than her especially short tempered Gaara. But she thought that was all a side affect of being brought back to life that would eventually go away.

A hand grabbed hold of Sakura's snapping her out of her thoughts. Sakura looked up at Riyou who held a calm expression.

"Once you die, you think about all of the things that you never accomplished, all the words you never said, so it's only normal that if someone pulls you from death that you behave differently, that you act without second guessing yourself, that you fly into dangerous situations without remorse for those who try to rob you of your life… But enough of that, it's time to go to Shigakure."

Riyou sighed and looked behind him.

"I assumed that your Hokage already went through the hospital files to learn more about me?"

Sakura just stared at him with a frown.

"When we arrived back, Shizune-senpai already had the files ready for her."

Riyou frowned.

"Senpai? Shouldn't it be kuohai?"

"What do you mean? She's older than me, and started out working with Shizune-sensei before me."

"But you're stronger than her…" Riyou said frown becoming a small smile.

"Oh young grasshopper, so much to learn." Riyou sighed once again.

"Why do you keep sighing? Tired from keeping up this genjutsu Riyou-sama?"

Sakura asked smirking at her sensei.

"No. Are little meeting is about to be interrupted, so let's make our leave."

"I can't just take off and leave my village, what if someone finds out and I get labeled as a missing-nin?"

"Create a clone." Riyou said

"Tsunade-sama could easily detect my clones."

"Not if you make it using irregular chakra."

"Irregular chakra?" Sakura asked while frowning slightly.

"You've noticed that your chakra was naturally pure green, and when you used it after you died it developed black spots, well soon it will become all black, it's known as irregular chakra. Use your chakra to make a clone and it will be an exact duplicate of your body, mind, and soul, and undetectable by regular shinobi."

"But Tsunade-sama said that my chakra went back to normal." Sakura's frown deepened.

"It appears as normal chakra after it stabilizes, and the darkness of it becomes no longer visible to the average shinobi eye including the sharigan. We don't have all day cutie-chan."

Sakura put her hands together and rapidly formed symbols to create a clone using irregular chakra.

"Awaiting your orders." The Sakura clone said standing at attention.

Sakura stared at her clone, noticing the green chakra with more black spots in it then when she first used it in Suna, floating around the clone, slowly seeping into the clone's body until no more of it was visible. Sakura touched the clones face. For some reason this clone seemed just like flesh and blood, but there was only one way to test her theory.

Sakura enhanced her fist with chakra and punched her clone in the stomach causing it to fly backwards and hit it's head against the side of the roof.

The clone's own hand began to clone, and it began healing itself with medical chakra at this Sakura was amazed.

"Give your clones your orders we're running out of time." Riyou told her going into his serious mode.

"Hai. Clone I'll be gone for a while. You are to act like me and gone on with my normal life and routine."

The clone walked up to it's creator.

"Hai." And then the clone formed hand signs and disappeared.

"I hope my clone doesn't use the techniques that no one knows about when I'm away."

"It won't, it's more like you than you know Haruno."

"So I guess this means were going to Shigakure Riyou-sama?"

**Author's Note: Up next Sakura goes to see all of Shigakure and to meet her Shigakure teammates! Hmm… I wonder what their like?**


	8. Chapter 8

Forming hand signs Sakura and Riyou teleported themselves from Kohona's hospital roof to Kohona's graveyard

**Author Note: I haven't updated recently due to computer issues, that and I had a lot of work to do involving my never ending education. Thank you for reviewing! And I hope you like this chapter. Sorry for the late update!**

**Warning: This fan-fiction is rated M for a reason, slight gore will be in this chapter. Whenever I reach a chapter containing some explicit scenes I will have a warning in the author's note.**

**I Do Not Own Naruto: Only my Occ's, Occ villages, and Occ country. **

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Forming hand signs Sakura and Riyou teleported themselves from Kohona's hospital roof to Kohona's graveyard. Upon arrival to Kohona's graveyard, Sakura and Riyou had to shield their chakra and hide themselves in the nearest tree as they watched Kohona's famous copy-nin stand before a large grave stone staring at it, and then bending to touch a few names.

After what seemed like a small eternity, Kakashi walked away from the graveyard pulling out his favorite orange book. Riyou and Sakura decided to wait awhile longer to make sure that the coast was clear.

Sensing Kakashi's presence disappear completely from the graveyard, Riyou and Sakura came out of hiding. As soon as Sakura left her hiding place she walked over to the large gravestone that her sensei (Kakashi) had been at.

"I wonder who Kakashi-sensei came to mourn?" Sakura said bending down and touching the gravestone.

"He's a shinobi he shouldn't mourn; we are after all in the bringer of misfortune field." Riyou said standing behind Sakura looking down at the Shigakure head band on her head.

"So are you saying that being a shinobi means that we should be heartless and unfeeling?" Sakura asked as she slide her finger along the endless names of the stone.

"No. Being a shinobi means that we've learned to accept life and death, that death is nothing to fear just a continuous cycle. Death itself is apart of living. If the copy-nin mourns the dead then he should also mourn the living."

Sakura looked behind her to see Riyou staring at the cloud free blue sky. Riyou felt her staring and stared back down his serious expression going to a calm one.

"You'll learn more Haruno, once we get to Shigakure. Are you ready?"

"Hai." Sakura said standing up, and turning to face her sensei.

Riyou held his hand out to his side and a long scythe appeared in it.

"You trust me?" Riyou asked staring Sakura in the eyes.

"I think I would by now after all I did trust you with my soul Riyou-sensei." Sakura told him staring back at him and then at his scythe with a look on wonder on her face.

"Climb on to my back and hold on tight, dig your nails in my flesh if you have to but don't let go."

"Can't I just walk?" Sakura asked eye brow raised.

"We're not going the way you went last time, this time we're taking another route so climb on and ask questions later."

Sakura rolled her eyes and walked around to the back of Riyou. Riyou knelt down.

"Wrap your legs around me."

At that Sakura blushed, but climbed on to Riyou's back and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck, and her legs around his midsection.

"Cutie-chan remember hold on." Riyou said as

"Um hm."

Feeling Sakura hold on to him harder, Riyou stood up walked to the center of the graveyard and hit his scythe to the ground in five different places, which became 5

Glowing circles. Riyou began forming hand signs with his one free hand while the other used the scythe to connect the five glowing circles to form one giant red circle around him. The circle glowed a loud bright red. The light engulfed Sakura and Riyou and they vanished from the graveyard.

Sakura immediately opened her eyes when the sound of horrid screaming began to fill her ears. They were in some kind of tunnel made of thousands and thousands of… bloodied Limbs.

Sakura gasped.

"Oh my Kami…" Sakura took one of her arms from around Riyou's neck to put on her mouth in disbelief at what she was seeing. Thousands upon thousands of bloody squirming limbs made up the walls, ceiling and floor of the tunnel and Riyou was running through them with his scythe creating a walkway. And among the limbs were hairless and faceless heads with only mouths screaming.

"Haruno wrap your arm back around me!" Riyou yelled at her as his Scythe continued to divide the limbs to create a clear walkway.

Sakura wrapped her arm back around Riyou's neck and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

"Haruno, I want you to watch, if you don't you'll never be able to travel from Shigakure to any other outside village on your own. Watch!"

Sakura reluctantly pulled her head from Riyou's neck to watch him slice through the limbs spraying blood everywhere as they repaired themselves.

Sakura's seen her fair share of blood as a medic shinobi working in Kohona's hospital put the scene in front of her, and the smell… oh Kami the smell… the metallic scent and the smell of burning flesh filled her nose, almost daring her to vomit. As Riyou sliced away blood splattered on her face, her clothes. Watching the scene made her stomach churn, she wanted it to end. The screams began to hurt her ears.

Looking up a head Sakura noticed a white light the end of the horrible tunnel. Sakura just held Riyou tighter as she forced her eyes to stay open.

Riyou sped up inches away from the light and then he jumped. Sakura couldn't help it she closed her eyes at the last minutes in an attempt to keep from fainting.

"Cutie-chan you're cutting off my wind pipes."

Cool fresh air filling Sakura's nose, clearing the stench of burning bloodied flesh told Sakura that they must have made it out of the tunnel.

Sakura slowly loosened her grip on Riyou and opened her eyes. They were back in Shigakure's graveyard.

"What the hell was that?" Sakura asked just above a whisper in slight shock.

"That was the real gateway between Shigakure and the outside world, Kioku no Hitogoroshi. Its purpose is to destroy trespassing outsiders, and to remind all Shigakure shinobi of our sins. The Kioku no Hitogoroshi is also used in our Chuunin exams, if a genin can't make it through then they fail."

"They… they die?" Sakura muttered.

"Life and death Cutie-chan, life and death." Riyou said as he unwrap Sakura's legs from around him. "Cutie-chan I know you like me but isn't this inappropriate for a sensei and their gakusei?"

Sakura turned a deep red and jumped off Riyou's back falling on the grass on her behind, Riyou turned around and smirked at her.

"Cutie-chan I know you're eager but I don't give those kinds of lessons." Riyou said smirk still in place.

"What!! Pervert!" Sakura jumped up on her feet and glared at Riyou until she noticed that the blood he was covered in was nowhere in sight, then she looked at herself the blood on her was gone also.

"Looking for the blood? All damage made to the body while going through the Kioku no Hitogoroshi vanishes when you leave it."

"It's a powerful genjutsu?"

"You're defiantly smart Cutie-chan. Yes it is a Genjutsu but slightly more than that. If anyone was to fall into the limbs and screaming heads their body would be ripped apart limb from limb and they would join the mess." Riyou noticed that Sakura looked a little pale.

"You'll get use to it young-grasshopper. When I made you my gakusei I did it with how you wished to be more than a medic, and to be respected by the shinobi world in mind. Besides if you can't reach that level through me, than you can't reach it at all Cutie-chan." Riyou said smirking.

"Wow Riyou-sensei I feel so much better now." Sakura said sarcastically rolling her eyes.

Riyou turned his back to Sakura to stare at the green grass that swayed gently in the cool breeze amongst the large gravestones, inhaling the fresh earthy smelling air.

"Come Haruno its time we head to the center of Shigakure."

"Hai."

Sakura began walking forward leaving Riyou standing still watching her.

"It's that way young-grasshopper."

Sakura turned around annoyed to see Riyou pointing to the left.

"Riyou-sama the training grounds for Chunin and Jounin are that way the village is this way... wait how do I know that?" Sakura's annoyed expression changed to one of utter shock, to which Riyou just smiled.

"Lucky… I guess." Riyou said shrugging, while smiling. He noticed Sakura about to open her mouth again. "I'll answer your questions in time ok Cutie-chan? So lead the way."

"Ok, but I'm bringing this question up again." Sakura said continuing down her path with Riyou walking alongside of her.

"Haruno."

"Hm Riyou-sama?"

"You'll return to your village in two days time that should be enough time to test you, introduce you to your teammates and begin your intense training. Your clone should hold up that long."

Sakura glanced at him out the side of her eyes then looked forward and smiled.

"Riyou-sama I want to fight you before I return."

"So the young grasshopper wants to become the experienced dragonfly eh?" Riyou asked slinging an arm around Sakura shoulder.

"Argh why do you keep calling me young-grasshopper!" Sakura yelled blushing at the arm around her shoulder.

"You're not as smart as I thought Cutie –chan. Grasshoppers are cute with their big shiny eyes, and green skin…." Sakura interrupted him by removing his arm from a round her shoulders.

"Does it look like I have green skin and big shiny black eyes!?" Sakura yelled turning to glare at Riyou as she walked backwards avoiding tombstones.

Riyou tried to maintain a serious look but then burst out laughing.

"Argh!" Sakura fumed while blushing and turning around to see where she was walking, stomping off leaving Riyou far behind her.

"Hahahaaa.Cutie-chan…" Riyou attempted calming down his laughter.

Still hearing his laughter Sakura formed hand signs and teleported.

After teleporting Sakura found herself at the end of the massive graveyard, to see a green grassy field and beyond the field was a massive cherry wooden gate, with carvings of flames and wind spirals running along it, at the very top of the gate were lion statues (Fu lions) positioned on either side with a figures in a black cloak sitting on either one. Sakura quietly walked across the field of grass as the sun warm beam made the gate's carvings appear to glow.

Sakura made it to the gate and stared up at the figures. The figure clothed in black on the left side of the gate sat on top of a lion statue with a cub under its left stone paw turned to the other figure sitting on the opposite side on top of a lion with a ball under its right paw and then looked back down at Sakura.

"No way!" The figure on the left yelled with astonishment present in their voice.

The figure in black on the right of the wall jumped down and landed in front of Sakura, Sakura backed up and eyed the figure warily. The figure walked closer to her and lifted the hood that hide their face to reveal a woman with blue spiky thick hair and blue eyes, and slightly pale skin. The woman resembled what a female version of Kiba might look like, but prettier.

What caught Sakura's attention was the woman's Shigakure forehead protector placed around her neck; parts of the black matter that it was made of had golden sparks in it.

"No way!"

Sakura turned to her right to see that the other figure had jumped down, and dropped their hood. This one was a shorter than Sakura he looked to be no older than nine years old, his hair was just like the woman's but it was red. Not blood red like Gaara or medium red like Riyou's his hair was a cross between orange and red. Unlike the women the boy skin was tanned like he hung out in the sun a lot. His orange eyes stared at Sakura with excitement.

"Did Shigakure not get new shinobi often?" Sakura wondered to herself.

"Ano… hello." Sakura said looking back and fourth at the two Shigakure shinobi, snapping them out of there blink-less stares.

The reddish orange haired boy closed the distance and poked Sakura's stomach and then her arm. The boy seemed to be examining her to see if she was real.

"Tome! Stop that!" The blue haired woman yelled hitting the boy upside his head, causing a knot to form.

The boy stopped his poking ministration and held his head in pain and pouted.

"Ah!! What was that for!?" The boy names Tome cried while dropping to the ground and crossing his arms over in chest in a childish pose.

The boy oddly enough reminded Sakura of Naruto when she would punch him.

"That was for poking her!" The blue hair women yelled.

"Mean old…. Ahhh!" The women hit him on the head again before he could finish his sentence.

"You will respect your elders! Especially me a lady of class and sophistication!" The blue haired women yelled.

The boy pointed at the blue haired women while holding his new formed lump with his free hand.

"You're no lady! Chibasa is the lady! Mean old…Wah!" Another hit was issued to the boy's cranium.

"I'm going to go brain dead! Wah!" Tome yelled rolling around on the ground.

Sakura just smiled at the scene.

Tome stopped rolling around and sat up and emitted pure green chakra without black spots from his hands and began healing the lumps on his head.

"Medical chakra?" Sakura asked the boy.

"Yep! Do you want to see me sew up someone's mouth?" The boy asked glaring at the blue haired woman.

"Why doesn't your chakra have black matter in it?" Sakura asked the boy staring closely at his hands.

"Simple because I'm not…Wah!" The woman hit the boy again, and then faced Sakura.

"The names Gaki, and yeah don't ask I have odd parents." The woman said bowing slightly, to which Sakura bowed back.

"Sakura Haruno."

"Child abuser!" Tome screamed pointing at the woman.

A vain throbbed on the woman's head.

"I swear I'm a jounin for crying out loud its bad enough I get permanent gate duty, but I have to put up with this little shit. Why oh why me?" The woman sweat dropped as she held the wiggling boy in a choke hold, and then unceremoniously drop kicked him to the ground.

Sakura watched on in amazement as the boy jumped up full of energy and ran up to her.

"Fight me!" Tome yelled.

"What?" Sakura asked staring down at the soon to be newest hyperactive shinobi in her life.

"Fight me! I need ANBU practice!" Tome yelled.

"But aren't you a genin" Sakura asked. "Wow he's random" Sakura thought to herself.

"Wah!! She called me a genin! I'm a jounin!" The boy yelled crying fake tears.

"Trust me the world would be a much better place if you were not." Gaki said crossing her arms, and frowning.

Sakura just wondered how the little kid in front of her was a jounin and yet she at age 15 is still a chunin.

"So fight me!" Tome yelled instantly stopping his fake tears and staring up at Sakura with a pout and 'puppy dog eyes'.

"Haruno you'll so willingly want to fight me yet you refuse to fight him?"

Sakura turned around to find Riyou behind her staring down at her, and really close. Forgetting how Riyou had managed to sneak up on her without her sensing his presence Sakura back up. Immediately after backing up a few inches Sakura noticed that he was no longer wearing his black cloak and was dressed similar to how he was dressed when she was a genin. His once purple and white lined Chinese style men's pant's suit (Gi ) was now black with a red and white lining, still sleeveless, with black ninja sandals on his feet. Riyou's once gold ear piercings that ran up and down his ear were now black.

His hair was back in the usual face framing bangs with a part going down the middle of his head, and the rest of his hair was in a long thick braid that went all the way to his feet, and hooked into the side of his braid was a black feather. The only item that was missing was his giant green and black scroll.

"Haruno."

Sakura snapped out of her trance of (admiring) examining her sensei's new outfit.

"Um yeah?" Sakura said staring up at in her sensei's eyes.

"I thought you wanted to see Shigakure, let's go." Riyou said walking towards the gate.

Sakura turned around wondering why the second Riyou showed up his playfulness seemed gone.

"Where did those two shinobi go?" Sakura wondered until she looked up and saw them pack on their statues.

CLINK

Sakura focused her attention in front of her when she heard the sound of the gate being opened.

She was finally going to see the Shigakure behind the gates and meet her teammate, and not to mention get well awaited training from Riyou.

Sakura ran up beside Riyou as the gates opened.

Immediately stepping into the village Sakura could see right away that it wasn't like any of the villages that she's visited in her shinobi career, there was definitely no comparison appearance wise between Kohona and Shigakure.

Not a paved street in sight only tall dead brown grass knee high, and black stone pagodas like homes of various sizes with stone lanterns next to each of them all arranged to create a broad path in the middle. But what caught Sakura's eyes was the tallest one that looked like a castle. The tall pagoda castle seemed to kiss the heavens and Sakura wondered where the last section of it stopped.

Staring at the village before her Sakura felt as if she wondered into another graveyard, except this one traded headstones for black stoned pagoda like houses, and from the looks of the brown grass and weeds it looked as if no one tended to it in years.

And the villagers… where were they? Why weren't the streets crowded with villagers going on with their daily lives?

Looking over to her right with sadness in her eyes, Sakura noticed Riyou starring at her watching the expressions change as she had studied the village in front of her.

"Riyou-sama….?" Sakura asked starring into Riyou's calm blue eyes.

Riyou looked up at the setting sun, and then back at Sakura as if reading her mind he answered what he knew she would ask.

"Don't worry, the villagers are here, today just happens to be the day before an important event that lasts three days, the villagers take it very seriously, so their resting up, and ask for the condition of Shigakure, it won't be like this for long. Now come." Riyou told her in a calm yet cold tone.

Sakura just stared at him in disbelief. Why was he acting so cold all of sudden? She wondered. If he kept it up she didn't know how long it would be before her unstable moodiness got the better of her. Sakura took a deep calming breath and followed her sensei.

Walking behind him Sakura eyes lingered on the feather attached to his long braid. During her genin years she remember it being white when exactly had it turned black?

"My genin years…" Sakura mentally sighed as she went into an instant flashback of a training session with Tsunade.

FLASH BACK

Sakura lay on her back sore and beaten on the ground staring up at the sky with a pained expression on her face.

This was her first training session with Tsunade, who decided to teach her how to use her great chakra control as a means of super strength. Tsunade didn't go easy on her either, kicking her with a chakra infused foot, throwing explosives at her and telling her to dodge if she wanted to live and prove that she was worthy enough to be her apprentice. It wasn't the physical pain that bothered her; it was her own inner turmoil. She felt as though she had betrayed Kohonagakure the moment she chose to accept Riyou's offer that night on the roof of Kohona's hospital. Shinobi were meant to be loyal to one village yet she had sworn her loyalty to another… Shigakure. She couldn't get rid of the feeling that she was a trader. How would everyone view her if they found out that she was being trained behind their backs by a jounin of another village?

"Am I any better than Sasuke-kun?" Sakura mentally asked herself. Sasuke had run off to Orochimaru for power, he'd selfishly abandoned Kohona. Was she any better? Why had she said yes to Riyou's offer? Was it for power? The promise that Riyou could help her gain the respect she longed for from everyone? No. It was for recognition; she didn't want to be seen as a weak little kunoichi anymore.

But what would Naruto think of her if he found out? Kakashi what would he think?

"No. Naruto forfeited his place as anything other than a teammate that day on the roof, along with Kakashi who never took my training seriously who only focused on Naruto and Sasuke-kun. No one opinion of my choices in life matter except mine. Everyone else are just obstacles in my way." The pained expression of Sakura's bruised and dirty face turned into a look of sheer determination.

"I am not a trader. You can't betray those who already betrayed you." Sakura rolled over on her stomach using the pain she felt all over to sooth the hurt she felt inside, she slowly attempted getting up, staggering back and forth.

"I will prove to them all that I'm not weak! Sasuke-kun, Naruto, Kakashi and everyone else will respect me!" Sakura mentally yelled as she made it to her feet bawling up her fist, and looking ahead of her to see Tsunade looking at her with a smile on her face obviously happy at the amount of determination that Sakura was showing.

Sakura ran towards Tsunade full speed but a bit wobbly and gave it everything that she had at that moment.

END OF FLASHBACK

"Haruno."

"Haruno"

Sakura came out of her thoughts at the sound of Riyou calling her name.

"Your chakra stop flaring it." Riyou told her as he looked at her calmly.

Sakura realized that she was once again covered in dark matter chakra unintentionally. Sakura really had to get that under control.

Calming herself down, she made the chakra covering her body disappear, and glared at Riyou.

"Riyou-sama while I'm here for the next two days I want to spend every minute I have training, I refuse to waste my time sleeping, eating or talking. The unanswered questions that I have can wait." Sakura stated sternly fueled by determination and her recent flashback.

For a brief moment the calm expression Riyou's faltered and un-decipherable emotion glinted in his eyes and then he went back to its previous calm disposition.

Sakura in confusion watched as Riyou looked held out his closed palm to her.

"What?" Sakura asked looking from his close hand to his calm face.

"You said that you wanted to train the whole time you're here, your two day's start tomorrow but we can start your training now." Riyou said opening his palm to reveal a small ball of compressed ball of dark matter chakra in his palm.

"This ball of chakra is highly explosive and deadly, if I drop it or become un-focus and let its energy go haywire it would either hurt me or destroy something I've taught you this correct?"

Sakura just nodded wondering what he was getting at.

"I can make one three times that size already." Sakura said looking at the small black ball.

"Focus all of the chakra in your body to the crown of your head."

Sakura closed her eyes and then opened them.

"Done." Sakura said. Since her chakra control was now beyond excellent she no longer had to form various hand signs to direct her chakra around her body, all she had to do was close her eyes and focus on where she wanted her chakra to go and it obeyed though it was slightly harder with her chakra's instability lately.

"Good. You will be balancing this condensed dark matter chakra above your head keeping it condensed and levitating, if you loose focus it with become unstable and you know the result of that." Riyou said balancing his condensed chakra ball on his index finger.

"When my finger approaches the area of where your chakra is concentrated on top of your head focus in on it and keep its shape using your own. You have great chakra control so this shouldn't be a problem."

"Hai." Sakura said closing her eyes as Riyou's finger balancing the concentrated chakra approached the crown of her head. As it reached its mark Sakura eyes opened and went wide.

Riyou spoke before she could.

"Yes. It's a highly concentrated amount of chakra power isn't always in size, It is powerful enough to take out a good portion of this village so don't disappoint me and loose focus Haruno."

Was Riyou trying to kill her and wipe out part of the village as well!? Sakura wondered but calmed down realizing that she was already loosing focus and could feel the ball of condense chakra that was recently placed to levitate two inches from touching the crown of her head bounce slightly.

Riyou pulled his hand away when he was sure that he felt Sakura's own chakra wrap around the destructive ball keeping it in place.

"Riyou-sama how long do you want me to keep it balanced?" Sakura asked calmly.

"Until you leave here in two days." Riyou answered back as calm as ever.

Sakura had to catch herself from loosing focus at his answer and keep calm.

"Two days?" Sakura asked as calmly as one could with a powerful bomb floating above their head.

"You said you were willing to sacrifice sleep, and until your good enough to keep that energy stable in your sleep you will not sleep, you will have to meditate to maintain energy. If you doze off you'll destroy part of the village and the Kage along with the elders would not be too happy about that. Understood?"

Sakura took a deep breath, and then exhaled.

"Hai Riyou-sama I will not fail." Sakura replied face calm and nervousness gone. She wanted to train hard and Riyou was taking her training more seriously, so she would not fail.

"Come on." Riyou said turning away from Sakura and walking further into the village down the brown grass path which Sakura notice was flattened out more than the grass and the entrance of the village most likely due to the heavy traffic of the yet to be seen villagers.

"Where exactly are we heading?" Sakura asked her red headed sensei.

"The Kage tower."

Sakura looked ahead to see that they were indeed approaching the black castle like tower that kissed the heavens. The closer that they got the more astounding the tower seemed. Lanterns filled with dancing flames decorated the black stone tower.

"It's tall." Sakura said. Stunned at how she couldn't see where it ended in the sky.

They had finally made it to the front of the tower's stone steps.

Walking up the stairs Sakura noticed that the steps each had characters carved into them as she climbed each step she read each step off in her mind.

"Doki. Akogi. Gokai. Bushou. Kentan. Tokui." When Sakura reached the last step she stopped and stared at it. The last step was without a carving, but for some odd reason Sakura felt attracted to this one, she couldn't take her eyes off of it. For some reason she knew what should have been there. "Natami…." She whispered feeling a chill run up and down her spine.

Hearing a scrapping sound Sakura looked up to see the large cherry wood doors of the stone Pagoda had opened and Riyou was waiting at the door for her.

Giving the last step one last look she ran over to Riyou, and into the building.

Inside of the kage tower was just as amazing as the outside the only thing present in the building was a spiraling red cherry wood stair case in the middle of the large lantern lit rectangular room, the stair case had various attached bridges that connected it to various doors that where running up the tower wall. Sakura looked to see if she could see a ceiling but all she could see was a never ending spiraling staircase and what seemed like thousands of red colored wooden doors and stone bridges connecting to the doors.

Were the shinobi in this village also asleep? Where did all of those doors lead? Why was the first floor so empty? Where were the guards?

Sakura had so many questions, but she decided against asking them, and instead put more concentration into the condensed energy ball floating above her head since she started feeling a little tired. Sakura wondered for a moment if seeing the never ending staircase made her feel instantly tired because she knew she was going to dread going up it if Riyou planed to take her to the very top if it even had a very top to it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **Hey. It's been so long since I've updated. I've had computer issues, papers due, tests, that plus a little writer's issues. I literally wrote this chapter over and over so many times taking out things and adding things, I just couldn't post it until I felt like it was perfect, that the storyline is actually going where I want it to and that it's actually good. I know how it is to read a story and want for the person to update soon but it seems like they've vanished off the face of the fan-fiction world. I want to apologize to all of 'Good Enough' readers for not updating more frequently; I made this chapter fourteen pages long in hopes of making up for it. Gomen Nasai and I hope you like it…oh, and please review!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto dattebayou!!!!!**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Since you'll be staying awake through meditation for three days, and you seem tired already you won't take the stairs tonight." Riyou said putting a hand on Sakura's shoulder and forming hand signs.

A vertex of wind wrapped around Sakura and Riyou's body lifting them up off the ground rapidly speeding them upward.

Sakura thanked kami that she missed lunch or else she would have lost it at the rate that they were propelling upwards. The many doors and the lanterns became a blur of red and orange as they flew up.

"Close your eyes take deep breaths and keep focused on controlling the stability of that condensed chakra ball." Riyou told her calmly as he focused his eyes upwards.

Sakura did as Riyou said. Sakura closed her eyes, and took deep breaths and concentrated at the task of not wiping out part of the village with a ball of condensed black matter chakra.

Sakura felt the vertex of wind around her and Riyou began to slow down and then stop.

Sakura opened her eyes to find that they were now in a room in a room, as the vortex of wind dispersed from their bodies.

Staggering and trying to maintain balance Sakura clasped a hand over her mouth, this was the second time in a day that she felt like vomiting.

Hands clasped around her shoulders and held her upright.

"Arigatou Riyou-sama." Sakura said as she leaned her wobbly body into his, with her back against his chest.

Taking deep breaths Sakura calmed the churning of her stomach along with her heart rate and focused her chakra concentration harder to control the condensed dark mattered chakra ball.

Wordlessly Riyou let go off Sakura and vanished in a vertex of wind.

Sakura turned around confused.

"Riyou-sensei?" She asked wonder why he left her without saying a word. Was this how Riyou planned to act towards her in Shigakure? Why was he acting so cold? Sakura didn't know but, she planned to find out.

Sakura stared at the door, that Riyou chose not to use and noticed that it wasn't red like all of the doors, it was gold. Could it be that the inside only was gold, and maybe the outside was red? Where had Riyou left her any way?

Turning around to survey the room she was left in Sakura gasped.

When Riyou said that he didn't want her going to sleep he meant it. The room's interior was plain stone, the same stone the building was made of , a stone lantern was stationed in each corner of the 'Sakura's bedroom in Kohona' sized room, making four lanterns with flames burning brightly, causing the black stone to have a soft orange glow. And in the center of the room was a flat pillow like the kind one would sit on during a tea ceremony.

Sighing Sakura made her way to the lone cushion and sat on it folding her legs (butterfly style) as she sat with her back straight and formed the hand signs rapidly using a directing a little of the chakra from the crown of her head to the tips of her fingers. Stopping her hand signs Sakura took three fingers and touched her stomach and then her eyes and then her head and let the chakra fade away from her fingers, as her hands fell to her lap and her eyes took on a glossy look.

"Riyou-sama should recognize the medical jutsu I just performed on myself and be able to break it…I will not fail…." Sakura thoughts became silent as her eyes closed and she remained sitting up in her meditative position, breathing shallow breaths as her chakra holding the condensed energy ball in place increased, and her heart rate slowed. Sakura's mind ignored her surrounding and the passing of time.

xxxxxxx NEXT DAY xxxxxxx

Pain. Extreme hunger pain and a headache to rival Tsunade's hangover headache is what Sakura felt as her heart rate stabilized, and her mind began to focus. Opening her eyes alone was proving to be just as painful, due to the light emitted by the stone lanterns in the room.

"That was stupid."

At the sound of her sensei's angry voice Sakura slowly forced her eyes to open all the way ignoring the pain. All she could make out was a blur of black and red, until her eyes began to focus to reveal Riyou standing above her looking pissed.

Sakura opened her mouth to speak, licking her dry lips.

"Riyou-sensei…. (cough) I didn't destroy the village and the energy ball is still stable. If I would have tried to stay up the whole time I would have dozed off and I would have failed so I…."

"So you performed a forbidden medical jutsu, which put your body in a comatose state while focusing every ounce of energy you have into the chakra condensed chakra ball, while tricking your body into feeling well rested and un-hungry." Riyou said visibly irritated.

"I was hoping that you would recognize the jutsu I used so you could pull me out of it." Sakura said smiling a little.

"Why do you think it's called a forbidden jutsu Haruno? The side effects…"

"I know the side effects. I came here to train Riyou-sama, to push myself to my limits, I'm glade you're concerned, but I don't want to be babied…I'm…I'm not weak… You gave me a task and I plan on completing it." Sakura said glaring up at Riyou with defiance in her eyes.

Riyou's anger seemed to fade into a calm expression

"I know you're not weak; however the side affects of that forbidden medical jutsu is like soldier pills but more extreme, you'll have endless amounts of energy for a few days, until it wears off then you'll crash and most likely go into a short comma, and that will bring more attention to yourself… And not just that why do you think that I gave you that task without sleep? Using that jutsu defeats the purpose of this particular training, you need to learn to use your excellent chakra control to control and mold the chakra of others like second nature, so that you can use their attacks against them. Do you plan to use a forbidden medical jutsu every time that you use someone's attack against them?"

Sakura stood up and stretched, then dropped her arms to her sides, and stared her sensei straight in his eyes slightly cranky. But before she could reply her sensei began talking again.

"Then again maybe what you did isn't so bad after all, that forbidden medical jutsu you used means you can train constantly without eating or sleeping for a few days, and you won't need to waste time meditating when you can be training." Riyou told her in a cold tone no longer seeming angry or irritated as he began studying Sakura.

"One of your training tasks is right outside of this room, and try not to use a forbidden Jutsu to get yourself through this one." Riyou stated calmly as he made his way over to the red door turning his back to Sakura, giving her the cold shoulder.

Sakura just rolled her eyes and glared at the black feather in her sensei's braid.

"Riyou-sama why is it that once we came here you started acting… so cold?" Sakura asked glaring at his back waiting for him to answer her.

Riyou's shoulder's seemed to tense but he said nothing, as placed his palm against the cherry wood door.

"You said you didn't care about all of the unanswered questions that you just wanted to train. Are you going back on your word?" Riyou asked turning to face Sakura again and walking up close to close.

"Don't treat me like a child, I know what I said and I'm not going back on my word but, after training I want answers, I agreed to become a Shigakure shinobi but I'm not going to serve blindly. If you don't ever give me any answers than I'll go on my own recon mission and find out, but until then I'm going to act cold towards you too, I'm not going to stand by while you act cold just like…." Sakura trailed off with the name of the person who always acted cold towards her, the person who left her on a cold bench in the middle of the night name right on her tongue, but she couldn't finish her sentence, because she never wanted to compare Riyou-sama to Sasuke-kun. Sasuke left her and called her weak, Riyou had always believed in her strength and when he would take extended leaves of absence he always came back. But now that they were in Shigakure would Riyou abandon her too and eventually call her weak. He was already acting cold and distant, so what's to stop him from going all the way?

Sakura dropped her defiant gaze from Riyou's eyes missing the glint of rage when she trailed off. She couldn't look at him so she just stared down at the floor fist clenched at her sides at an attempt to not feel hurt.

Sakura could feel the anger radiating off of her sensei, his chakra seemed to flare a little. Sakura lifted her head and looked up to see that Riyou was right in front of her only a few inches away from her body, wind swirled around him in a wild manner never touching Sakura but the cold air gave her chills. When Sakura allowed her eyes to meet her sensei's her breath caught in her throat as Riyou embraced her in a tight hug like his life depended on keeping her in his arms, as the condensed wind from his body wrapped around Sakura mirroring Riyou's desperate embrace.

Sakura was stunned, and in shock. Wasn't he just angry a few seconds ago?

But Sakura didn't ponder on that any longer as Riyou slowly pulled away from her and stared in her eyes, rage no longer present. Only inner turmoil was reflected in his eyes.

"Sakura, please listen to me…If this is the only time in your life that you ever truly listen to me, just please while you're here pay attention to your training and nothing else…You have to become stronger… As you gain power you'll come to the line where if you cross it you'll be no different from those who have hurt you and those that will hurt you."

"Will hurt me?" Sakura whispered out shocked and confused.

"I can help you gain power, just like Orochimaru helped your teammate but the only thing that will separate you from him is your own self strength. There's going to come a time where you're going to be so emotionally hurt that you'll question your loyalties and you'll thirst for power to ease the pain that will eat away at you. You'll be driven by hurt and pain and in the end when power can't stop the hurt you'll seek revenge, and isolate yourself from everyone. Don't be like the Kyuubi vessel and let your power be controlled by rage don't become like the Sharigan user and allow your power be controlled by revenge…" Riyou's eye's looked at the floor for a second and then focused back on Sakura's eyes with desperation in them "…and most importantly don't be like me and let your power be controlled by your uncontrollable wrath. The only way I know how to protect you from the future is to make you stronger, and give you a running start… All I ask is for you is to trust me for the time being, don't ask questions that will arise while you're here just train, and I promise when I think you're ready I'll tell you everything and from there what path you take is up to you. Do you trust me?" Riyou finished gripping Sakura's shoulders as the wind around them dispersed.

Sakura didn't know how to respond to what she just heard. What did Riyou mean when he said that she was going to experience more hurt in the future? What did he mean when he said that there would come a time when she'd question her loyalties? That she'd be driven by hurt and pain and thirst for power to ease that pain. What was he talking about?

"Do you trust me?" Riyou asked with desperation in his voice causing Sakura to stumble out of her thoughts.

"Do I trust him? Enough to never ask questions…trust that I'll find out when I'm ready?" Sakura asked herself still stunned at what Riyou just told her. What reasons did Sakura have to trust Riyou besides the fact that he saved her from death when the red headed Akatsuki member killed her? He found her on the roof when she was a genin crying over the betrayal that she experienced at her teammates and sensei's hands. He believed in her when everyone else just saw her as a weak konoichi when everyone else just saw her as useless, when she herself saw herself as a burden that got in everyone's way… Riyou was there he believed in her, trained her, steered her to become a medical-nin. And here he was offering her power and allowing her to choose what she wanted to do with that power once her training was complete. But did she trust him?

Yes.

Sakura stared down at the ground breaking eye contact with her sensei and looking back up at him with a serious look on her face.

"Yes Riyou-sama I trust you. I trust you with my life… but if I can't get revenge against Kakashi-sensei, Naruto, and Sasuke-kun then why am I here? " Sakura asked staring into her sensei's blue eyes with confusion.

Riyou's look of desperation disappeared, to reveal his calm mask that he wore when he entered the village.

"That's not revenge Haruno, that's a reckoning." Riyou said letting a small smirk pierce his calm mask.

"A reckoning?" Sakura asked perplexed.

"Revenge is an act of selfishness, revenge is what the Sharigan user lives for he hurts people because he wants to revenge his clan and gain more power; unlike your task which is a reckoning, you might not believe it now but what you will do to them must be done. Consider it a calling from what ever higher power you see fit to deliver it. All of the hurt all of the people who called you weak you're a vessel for the pain of all who are like you: looked down upon, never good enough, in the shadow of everyone else. You only want the shinobi world to respect you, and unlike the Kyuubi or the Sharigan user no… Unlike the whole shinobi world your task will not have the blood of innocent people lost. You won't decimate villages filled with civilians just to get what you want, and if you do… then they must not have been that innocent in the first place" Riyou said smirk disappearing as his arms drop to his sides, as he turned his back to Sakura and walked to the red knob-less door of the room and placed a dark matter chakra covered hand on the door's surface, causing the door to slowly open.

Sakura watched his back with a smile on her face. "I hope the snake bastard; Ero-sanin and Kakashi-sensei trained their pupils well because I have the task of showing them the meaning of a reckoning." Sakura thought as a light layer of dark matter chakra enveloped her body, and her smile turned into a wicked smirk.

"The rest of your training starts now." Sakura heard Riyou say from outside of the open door causing her to snap out of the odd trance she was in and walk up to stand beside Riyou as the chakra that enveloped her vanished.

Outside of the door was a bridge that connected to what seemed to be a never ending staircase, Sakura walked beside Riyou on to the bridge that connected the room they were in to the never ending stairs and what Sakura saw astounded her, and proved that Shigakure did indeed have inhabitants other than the gate guards, Riyou and herself.

Various black cloaked figures were running, jumping, and teleporting up the stairs each holding different scrolls in their hands, or either empty handed. There were so many it seemed that someone was bound to run into each other, but none did. It seemed that everyone could sense each other so well that they avoided causing a collision. It looked hectic and almost gave Sakura the feeling that one gets when they see a large crowd of people running from something that you have no idea about but you follow along anyway because you don't want to find out; however the scene in front of her lacked the hectic-ness of it all and seemed kind of choreographed.

Sakura looked towards Riyou, just to see that he had put his black cloak and hood on covering his face and he was turned towards her with his hood lifted to reveal his blue eyes which were studying her.

"This is the second part of your training. You're going to go up the stairs by foot until you come across a black door, you can use any technique that you possess to maneuver around incoming or leaving shinobi, except teleportation but something tells me that you won't have a problem, you look as if you already discovered that there's a pattern to their movements." Riyou said still eyeing her.

"A black door isn't that going to be hard to find in a building made of black stone won't the door blend in?" Sakura asked staring at her sensei confused.

"You'll be able to find it…but first." Riyou lifted a hand to Sakura's cheek and let dark mater chakra from his palm touch her skin.

The dark matter chakra immediately wrapped around Sakura and created a black cloak matching Riyou's.

"This cloak is made of my chakra and your rank is embedded in it. Put your hood on, and don't worry it won't disturb the chakra ball above your head as long as you keep your concentration. Now go, your training starts now." And with that Riyou vanished in a swirl of wind, Leaving Sakura fingering the soft black material of her cloaks hood and she lifted it and covered her head and walked forward to face the second part of her training.

Sakura eyed the ninja rushing in all direction on the never ending staircase, she knew if she didn't figure out the pattern that she was bound to collide painfully with a shinobi and she might loose concentration on the ball of unstable dark matter chakra floating above her head inside the black cloak's hood.

"Ok think. Think Sakura, there's no difference from this and composition of the Jiro poison both seem so complex that it would take the average medical shinobi years to create an antidote, but really it's simple, so simple in fact that the easiest steps to creating the antidote are always overlooked. So what is it that I'm missing? What am I over looking? Better yet what skill does Riyou-sensei believe that this task will help?" Sakura thought to herself as she inched closer to the affray of shinobi.

For a brief moment she considered jumping into, and see what luck would get her. But that was something that Naruto would do, jump in head first ask questions later. Sakura was a thinker, maybe not a brilliant strategist like Kohona's shadow shinobi Shikamaru, but she rarely went into any situation without a slight plan and times when she did she was thinking with her heart instead of her head.

"The chakra ball on my head is helping with my concentration. Taijitsu requires concentration, so does Ninjutsu but Genjutsu requires the most. Riyou-sama did say that Shigakure specializes in strong life like genjutsu's, maybe a strong genjutsu was at work?" Sakura thought holding her fingers together.

"Kai!" She yelled, and nothing happened Sakura's eyebrows furrowed together in deep thought. "Maybe there's not a trick maybe this is a test of reflexes and speed." Sakura thought as she watched the shinobi and studied the way they moved and how their seemed to be a slight pause in certain areas every few seconds. Kind of like a heartbeat."

"Beat, beat, beat, beat pause…right side. Beat, beat, beat, beat pause… middle…left side… walls." Sakura repeated over and over in her head as she noted the slight cease of motion every so often from the shinobi. Four beats and the right side of the staircase with shinobi would stop like they were frozen in time but the occurrence was so slight that Sakura wasn't even sure how she noticed.

Figuring that the next pause for her to enter into the mass of traveling shinobi would be occurring in four beats she steadied herself bending at the knees preparing to take off with as much speed as her feet would deliver her.

"Now."

Sakura saw the pause and ran with speed that would make a Kage's messenger boy jaw drop. She made it in but she didn't have time to celebrate. For some reason the shinobi's movement seemed much slower when she was watching for outside of the mass, but once she entered it the speed seemed to accelerate going ten times faster.

Sakura's heart was pumping so fast she felt as if it would leap from out of it's confinement within her body.

Leaping. Jumping. Dodging.

Sakura knew if she tripped and fell that she would undoubtedly be pummeled. The other shinobi whose features remained hidden by their cloaks seemed to ignore her presence not even bothering to room for her on the stairs, some even trying to knock her out of their way using fist and legs, figuring her to be an obstacle in their path.

And that pissed Sakura off.

Sakura back flipped up into the air as high as she could above the shinobi, her cloak billowing around her, as the lanterns lining the walls cast an ominous glow amongst her silhouette making her seem much like a angel of death fresh from hell's bakery. Sakura pulled out kunai from beneath her black cloak and threw them with skilled precision as far and wide as she could in various directions at the shinobi below her as she began to descend back down.

Sakura watched with a smile on her pink lips as the shinobi below her pulled out various weapons and deflected the kunai from them, making then fall to the floor, some with the ease of a smooth swish of their wrist and other's using more strength.

But like insects taunting a black widow they were soon to realize the error of their mistake.

Sakura looked for where she knew a pause would be and landed there then she held her open palms above her head as she evaded hits and running into other shinobi. Black chakra strings glimmered in the orange light. Sakura closed her fist, and watched in satisfaction as about sixty-five percent of the shinobi tripped stumbled and fell flat on their

Faces screwing up the entire choreographed motions of the stair travelers. Sakura figured that the shinobi that tripped or got caught in the chakra strings that she connected to all the kunai littered around the floor to create trip wires must be genin, and chunin and the rest who didn't go down must be of higher rank. But she didn't have time to rate the skills of her fellow Shigakure shinobi. Sakura made her way up the stairs as fast as she could before the brutal assault from the shinobi she tripped came.

Sakura noticed the higher she went up the least shinobi she seen, and looking behind her she could tell that the choreography of the Shigakure shinobi traveling the endless stairs was beginning to go back to its natural fast brutal pace.

"Black door? How am I going to see a black door in a black stone building?" Sakura asked herself, as she raced up the stares constantly concentrating on the chakra ball above her head as she looked frantically around her to only find red doors.

Sakura considered creating clones to help her find the door, she had a pretty good chakra reserve…but she wanted to find it without the use of clones.

CLING.

Sakura barely evaded a kunai that was aimed right at her head.

"They've caught up…" Sakura sighed to herself rolling her eyes in annoyance, as she dodged various projectiles being thrown from behind her.

"What kind of village is this? Traveling through the Kage building alone seems to be training." Sakura asked herself out loud barely dodging an axe that was thrown with crazy precision taking off a strand of her pink hair, and then clattering to the floor.

Sakura stopped and watched as the one strand of pink hair fell to the floor, causing her mind to travel back to a similar scene that occurred during Kohona's Chuunin exams.

Flash Back

Sakura was on her knees bruised a her long pink hair was held by a female sound ninja who taunted her about only caring about her appearances, as her other sound teammates approached Sasuke and Naruto's sleeping forms.

"I have to protect Sasuke-kun and Naruto; I won't be a burden anymore." Sakura thought as she pulled out a kunai and cut her long back length pink hair to her shoulders freeing herself from the grasp of the female sound ninja.

End of Flash Back.

As Sakura's mind came to its senses, she noticed that hundreds of weapons were scattered around her in a perfect circle, and her hand was extended above her head holding something really heavy.

Sakura's gaze slowly went up, to see that she was holding one of the black cloaked figures by their neck as they squirmed in her grasp for air.

Sakura dropped the person to the ground in shock, and watched as the figure removed their hood to reveal a girl with brown hair and hazel eyes who looked to be no older than twelve. The girl didn't seem to be scared at all if anything she seemed to be in awe.

"Wow! We were told that this year's Chunin exams were going to be a killer, and wow Gaki-sensei wasn't lying! You must have fail like a thousand times to be so tall! You're too strong to be a genin! Are you a jounin and are you part of the test? Do I have to fight you now? Or do I wait for my teammates? And where are they? I swear Nania and Juao are so slow!"

Sakura felt a tingling sensation on the tips of her fingers, casing her to look at them.

"Chakra strings when did I?" Sakura followed the chakra strings coming from her fingers to look behind her and see a good amount of cloaked figure's lying on the ground using medical chakra to heal their various wounds and unattached chakra strings from their bodies, their hoods were down. They all looked to be genin.

"What happened? When did I attack..?" Sakura detached the chakra strings and through a kunai behind her, and turned around to glare at the girl who was now pinned by her cloak and a kunai to a floor with a flail in her hand.

"I can't fail my first chunin exam!" The girl wailed as she used her free hand to try to unpin herself.

"Chunin exam?" Sakura asked the girl who had tried to attack her when her back was turned.

"Gaki-sensei warned me, to pay attention during class!" The girl wailed. "I guess I've failed my exam. Ok you over grown genin do your worst!" The girl said ceasing her struggling and laying flat against the ground calmly staring into Sakura's confused green eyes.

Sakura was about to ask the girl what she was wailing about until she noticed the faint sound of senbon needles piercing through the air behind her.

"One- thousand punch no jutsu!" "One-thousand Senbon no jutsu!"

Sakura back flipped over the girl on the ground grabbing her by her cloak and pulling her with her out of the way of an arsenal of senbon needles flying towards them from out of a cloaked figure's gloved palms.

"Juao you came!" The girl behind Sakura exclaimed happily as Sakura reflected various senbon needles using two kunai in each hand.

"Isn't Nania with you!? I just heard the one-thousand punches no jutsu!?" The girl yelled annoyed in a high pitched girly voice.

"Right here!" Sakura looked up to see two cloaked figures to her left with their fist out ready to hit her.

Sakura smiled wickedly as she began reflecting the senbon needles towards the two figures at her left, which disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

"Typical…" Sakura trailed off as she felt a deep pain in her back in the back. "So the girl did have another weapon besides a flail" Sakura thought as she was stabbed in the back with a katana.

Sakura turned around slowly allowing all of the senbons to pierce through various parts of her body as she turned and stared the now smiling hazel eyed girl. Once the hazel eyed girl saw the happy smile on Sakura face she became confused.

"Good shinobi face their opponents head on, not stab them when they're not looking, if you live your life this way then you'll never know if you're a good shinobi or just really lucky." Sakura said as her body fell to the ground and became a cloud of black smoke.

WITH THE REAL SAKURA

Sakura rushed up the stairs smiling at the fight taking place behind her.

"Maybe I should have made my dark matter clone more of a challenge for them?" Sakura pondered resting an index finger on her chin. As she thought about when she made the clone.

FLASH BACK

"Chakra strings when did I?" Sakura followed the chakra strings coming from her fingers to look behind her and see a good amount of cloaked figure's lying on the ground using medical chakra to heal their various wounds and unattached chakra strings from their bodies, their hoods were down. They all looked to be genin.

"What happened? When did I attack..?" Sakura detached the chakra strings and through a kunai behind her, and turned around to glare at the girl who was now pinned by her cloak and a kunai to a floor with a flail in her hand.

"I can't fail my first chunin exam!" The girl wailed as she used her free hand to try to unpin herself.

"Chunin exam?" Sakura asked the girl who had tried to attack her when her back was turned.

"Gaki-sensei warned me, to pay attention during class!" The girl wailed. "I guess I've failed my exam. Ok you over grown genin do your worst!" The girl said ceasing her struggling and laying flat against the ground calmly staring into Sakura's confused green eyes.

Sakura was about to ask the girl what she was wailing about until she noticed the faint sound of senbon needles piercing through the air behind her.

"One- thousand punch no jutsu!" "One-thousand Senbon no jutsu!"

Sakura back flipped over the girl on the ground grabbing her by her cloak and pulling her with her out of the way of an arsenal of senbon needles flying towards them from out of a cloaked figure's gloved palms.

"Juao you came!" The girl behind Sakura exclaimed happily as Sakura reflected various senbon needles using two kunai in each hand.

"She knows them? They must be her teammates. I guess I could help them with their shinobi skills." Sakura thought as she used her excellent chakra control to create a dark matter chakra clone and use a substitution jutsu to trade places and transform into one of the senbon needles that were being thrown, managing to fly off course and land further up the stairs, far away from the eyesight of the little genin.

Sakura then changed back to herself and took off into a fast run as she left the genin to play with her clone.

END FLASHBACK

"I guess that clone was just at the right level for them." Sakura shrugged bringing her hand to her side as she began looking around for the illusive black door. Instead of looking around frantically like before, she looked around with annoyed expression on her face.

"I can't believe Riyou-sensei put me against genin. How weak does he think I am?" Sakura fumed to herself.

"Ima nani?" Sakura asked feeling a powerful chakra level coming from somewhere around her.

"You know that wasn't a very nice thing you did back there, throwing kunai and ruining the traveling staircase flow, and toying with the little genin but it was admirable; however I believe that it lacked a certain memorable touch. Please allow me to assist you in showing the flaws of your shinobi art in the name of master Kentan." Someone said in a calm female voice.

Sakura's eyes flew to a figure cloaked in black, holding the largest sword she's ever seen in her fifth teen years of existence (It as twice as big as the Akatsuki's shark's sword). The figure descended down the stairs with slow graceful steps as if they were floating and had all of the time in the world.

"Forgive me, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself I am Karounoi Chibasa, also known as Shigakure's blade mistress. I do dread awful techniques, and I couldn't help but notice that by working on your posture your attacks back there could have been ever so brilliant…It's a shame, you have a competent sensei yet you seem to be so… incompetent." The figure said finally standing a few feet from Sakura who was glaring at the figure as a vein twitched on her forehead and she clenched her fist in anger.

"When will sensei's understand? Gakusei's are only as good as their sensei's. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk." The woman who introduced herself as Chibasa said.

Sakura had enough. She had got so angry that her body became covered in dark matter chakra and the chakra ball above her head began to wobble.

"Who the hell do you think you are insulting Riyou-sama!" Sakura growled out through clenched teeth.

"I'm but a humble servant." And with that the cloaked woman held her sword out vertically in front of herself. "First lesson I shall teach you is how a proper lady dances." The woman stated as she stabbed her large blue silver fang shaped blade into the staircase and brought a slim long lean fingered hand from the out of her cloak and placed it on top of her other hand that stabbed the sword into the stairs.

Sakura didn't wait for the cloaked woman to attack her first she grabbed a kunai from out her cloak mentally thanking Riyou-sensei for teaching her to make dark matter chakra cloned weapons so she could have a endless supply of kunai. Sakura pulled out a kunai to fit between each finger on each hand and enhanced them with more dark mattered chakra and threw them out a the woman as she charged at her.

"Maiden's waltz no jutsu!" The cloaked woman yelled just as. Before the kunai could touch her sword began to pulse as different spots on the stairs began to glow.

Thinking fast Sakura jumped back and flipped up into the air watching with furrowing eyebrows as katana's grew from out of the flow and began flying right at her in various directions once they were air bound.

This almost reminded Sakura of Tenten's attack were weapons just pour out from her scroll except these swords came from the stairs, and the attacker didn't have a scroll and Sakura didn't even see her form hand signs, plus they moved on their own… All two hundred of them, and if she didn't think quickly she'd have more holes in her than she'd care to.

Sakura flipped and dodged the blades as she came falling back to the ground, wishing that shinobi's truly could fly.

"Uhn." Sakura gasped as she felt a blade stab into her right thigh.

"Yes your posture is lacking." Sakura heard the woman say from beside her.

WAIT. Beside her.?

The cloaked woman was now beside Sakura who had jumped off of a sword to get air born again. The woman was standing calmly on two katanas that seemed to be floating in place. All of the swords that were attacking Sakura missed their mistress as they launched repeatedly for Sakura.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: I've finally posted another chapter. I'm sorry it took so long. But I've been busy with school work and other things. I made this chapter really long in an attempt of apology. I Hope you like it!!!!! **

**Thank you so very much: Shadow-binder, ROMYCLIFAN, My-chemical-ROMANCE-rOck, Usagi no Hana, 9tailedemonfoxonbu, Jackie-chan1230, uchiha-miyo, blossomheartxoxo, Shadow Quil, Miss Chocolat, NightGal, SB01, ArticEmbers, and NaruXSaku4eva.**

**Your reviews mean a lot to me and I appreciate you guys taking the time to submit one! I hope you like this chapter and continue to read my story. Again Doomo Arigatou Gozaimasu! **

Sakura dodged the swords but not fast enough as she was pierced through in her other thigh and in her left side. Getting fed up with being a human pin cushion Sakura ignored the pain and the swords imbedded in her flesh and pulled out more kunai from her cloak, making sure to attach chakra strings to them she threw them in various directions.

"Spider web no jutsu!" Sakura yelled as she formed a few fast hand signs.

"Funny you didn't form hand signs last time you used your little spider web no jutsu to interrupt the flow of the stairs… someone is being inventive." The woman teased in a placating voice.

"Bitch" Sakura growled out as she waited for the sound that her kunai had hit the floor in various spots then she held her palms out and closed her eyes in concentration, and then let a smirk grace her lips as the sound of metal hitting metal filled the air.

Sakura decided if she could create an unlimited amount of dark mattered chakra clone kunai then why not pair it with her chakra string spider web technique to make kunai grow from out of the spider web of chakra strings she formed, and then tug at the strings to fling then through the air, preferably at her teasing opponent. If she was going to be a katana pin cushion then the bitch across from her was going to be a kunai pin cushion.

"You're a smart girl but your tactics are possibly the most ignorant that I've had the misfortune of coming across."

Sakura's eyes flew open as she felt the chakra strings attached to her fingers go slack and the sound of metal clashing stop and what she saw caused her to go tense.

All the Katanas had stopped 1 inch from her body surrounding her on all sides and the cloaked woman was behind them with her hands held together rested in front of her on her thighs.

"Hm. Substitution? Is that what you're thinking if so then think again, I have your very being bound by the pulse coming from the swords surrounding your body." The woman said smoothly, to which Sakura ignored and tried substation just to find out that it didn't work.

"Your really are unworthy of being a Shigakure shinobi, having you set foot in our village is an outrage, fortunately I can and will, purge you from this land, though I'm very sure you are even unworthy of dying here and having your blood taint our soil."

"Shut up!" Sakura screamed becoming even more wrapped in dark matter chakra as the condensed chakra ball above her head rattle even more.

"I agree enough chit chat. Shall we?" The woman said as the Katanas all began to glow blue leaving Sakura to scream out in pain as they all impaled into her body, and to add to the pain the giant sword that Chibasa impaled into the staircase flew up to it's mistress who effortlessly grabbed the gigantic swords hilt.

As blood pooled in Sakura's lungs, and poured from the various holes in her body her screams became coughs due to her choking on her own blood. Just as her body became limp she watched helplessly as the condensed chakra ball fell from her head, and from there it was like everything went in slow motion, and her brain became bombarded with flashbacks or memories that didn't seem to be hers.

She saw a woman who looked to be twenty years old, with long thigh length flowing pink hair, and green eyes. Sakura became confused at how the woman just looked to be an older version of her but with really long hair. The woman sat in a beautiful field of full bloom cherry blossom trees sitting down on dew laden green grass, which was decorated with fallen cherry blossom leaves. The woman's red cloaked seemed to be wrapped around her in a protective manner against the chilly breeze. The woman wore a happy smile on her face as she stared at the beauty around her.

"Muramashi Fudo I know you're here you can come out now." The women chuckled to herself.

Sakura looked around in her ghost like transparent state for the person who the pink haired older version of her was addressing.

"Ah man! You caught me, and here I was thinking that I could spend my day basking in your beauty." Sakura heard a familiar voice say.

"Riyou-sama?" Sakura asked herself as she saw a man with long loose red hair wearing a white cloak materialize in a swirl of wind and water causing the cherry blossoms around him to float in the air. When the cherry blossoms, air and water swirl disappeared Sakura could see the man's face more clearly, he did indeed look like her sensei except his eyes were different they held warmth, kindness, curiosity, and…love?

"Ha ha very funny Fudo-chan." The woman said dryly rolling her eyes, causing the man to pout.

"Chan! I'm not a girl and I'm older than you!" The man protested.

"That may be true but as long as you keep calling me little this and little that and saying how much wiser you are than I then I'm going to keep calling you Fudo-chan. If you would…" The woman trailed off when she noticed the man was no longer standing above her but sitting extremely close to her with his palm pressed softly against her cheek as he stared at her longingly.

The woman's breath seemed to hitch.

"Fudo-chan!?" The woman gasped out blushing and trying to back away, but that proved futile, when the man wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him locking their lips in a kiss.

As the man pulled away the woman was blushing madly and stung into silence.

"Be with me, and promise to never leave me… I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." The man said almost in desperation.

The woman snapped out of her speechless state, and pulled out of the man's embrace and stood up as her long pink hair fell in her face hiding her emotions. But Sakura who watched like a ghost could tell by the tensing and shaking of the woman's body all too well what she was feeling, because she herself felt it before.

"You kiss stealing bastard!!!!" The woman yelled pouncing on the wide eyed man, attempting to beat him within an inch of his life.

Sakura sweat dropped at the scene, but then her face took on a confused expression as she wondered where she was, why was she there? The last thing she could remember was being in a fight but what happened during it she didn't know. It was as if part of her mind was covered in a dense fog. Did she win and fall asleep due to exertion? No. The forbidden jutsu she performed would allow her to go without sleep while she was in Shigakure… so did she die and was this some form of the afterlife? No. She couldn't have died because she still felt incomplete, and she vowed that before she met her due any day now demise (since shinobi lives were so uncertain) that feeling would be gone. So where was she? Stuck in a genjutsu?

Sakura focused back on the scene before her just to realize that it had changed. She was in the same spot but so much had changed. The cherry blossom trees along with the grass were on fire, and hundreds of screams of horror filled the air. Sakura spun around but all she could see were endless flames beneath a pitch black night sky that not even the stars themselves would grace an appearance. Through all of the blood curdling screams one stood out from above the rest. This scream wasn't out of fear like the rest but of confidence and insane rage.

"Fear me! I am the devil, the very Demon Pied Piper that you were bred to fear! Yes that's it run! Scream! Scream ! Hahahaha!" The voice screamed and laughed a mad psychotic laugh that could make Orochimaru piss his pants.

"Bleed! Make me believe that your creators gave you a purpose! Bleed so that your blood will water the earth and bathe the wicked! Give your worthless souls to me!"

Sakura couldn't tell the gender of the voice because it sounded too inhuman to reference it to anything she's ever heard…but she could swear that underneath the rage and psychotic-ness their was underlying pain.

And then just as easily as the scene had come, it faded away encased in darkness to reveal another scene.

It seemed to be a giant gray stone made room, with Tatami mats covering the floors and long red silk like material falling from four parts of the sand colored ceiling to lie flowing against the four walls. The room seemed to be lit by unseen lanterns to create a soft warm glow.

But then Sakura's eyes landed on the front of the room where a figure sat on a throne like pillow, their features hidden in shadow.

"I want to go!" Sakura heard a familiar voice cry out in frustration, but just before she could turn in the direction she heard the hidden figure began to speak.

" Insolence." The figure hidden in shadow growled out in a deep monstrous voice that also seemed to be familiar. "Will not be tolerated, and will not go unpunished!"

"I know those voices, but from where?" Sakura asked herself.

Sakura watched as the figure hidden in shadow, stood up covered in a red cloak hiding their form.

The figure pulled out a kunai, and walked up to Sakura who got in a fighting stance just to have the figure walk right through her like she wasn't even there, Sakura spun around to see the figure standing over…over herself. The figure was standing over a twelve year old version of Sakura, she looked exactly how Sakura looked as a genin, but she had a crazed look in her eyes like she was experiencing a panic attack as her eyes looked around the room wildly for a way out.

"You can't come out, ever…they all laughed at you they all took you for a joke, you were always getting saved, and you were a ninja for crying out loud! But you never were respected as one. Obedient, weak, a crybaby…"

Sakura clenched her fist in anger as she watched the twelve year old version of herself began to cry and cover her eyes with her hands.

"Stop it!" Sakura screamed running up to the cloaked figure and punching her, just to have her fist go right through her.

"And you!" The cloaked figure looked up directly at the real Sakura.

"Tsunade… why is it that you think she said yes to take you under her wing?"

"You can see me?" Sakura asked uncertain, frowning.

"Of coarse, now answer me why do you believe Tsunade took you as an apprentice? Why didn't she take anyone else why out of all the leaf shinobi did she pick you?"

"Who are you?" Sakura asked in a fighting stance.

The figure ignored her question and continued to speak.

"At the genin exams do you remember when Ino-pig used her mind transfer no jutsu? How everyone was shocked that you managed to free yourself from it? How Ino-pig screamed bloody murder at the beast inside your head… at inner Sakura?"

"How do you know about that?" Sakura asked staring at the figure in shock and partial suspicion.

"What ever happened to the lovely and charming 'inner'? Did you notice that she disappeared once you became stronger? When you wear a genin she'd give you strength, and cheer you on. She was confident, powerful, rude, and short tempered, and annoyed easily, but more importantly she was feared. Tell me does that sound familiar?" The figure asked walking up closer to Sakura.

"What the hell are you getting at? And who are you?" Sakura asked becoming irritated and a bit freaked out about all the things this figure knew.

"Which one was the real Sakura? Inner Sakura? Or that?" the figure said pointing her kunai at the weeping genin Sakura on the ground.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Sakura asked sending chakra to her fist.

"I'm here to help an old friend find herself, to find the black door."

At the mention of a black door Sakura thought of the black door she was suppose to find.

"Is this apart of Riyou-sama's test? What happen to the person who I was fighting?" Sakura asked loosening her fighting stance.

"You lost." The figure said in an angry tone.

"What!" Sakura yelled.

"You're dying right as we speak, and you dropped the dark matter chakra ball, so you won't just die by yourself but you'll take out a good amount of the village with you, and some unfortunate villagers."

"You're lying! It can't be!, I have to get back!" Sakura yelled clenching her fist so hard that her nails stabbed into the skin of her palms and drew blood, as she dropped to her knees in disbelief.

"You're dying, and the feeling…that annoying incomplete feeling is still there. Isn't it?, you've had it for so long, when you were a child you thought it was loneliness or sadness because of how you were teased about your forehead, then as a genin you thought it was because you didn't have the one person…the one person who you loved and admired so much, and you thought if you could have Sasuke-kun that you'd feel complete, and when Sasuke-kun and Naruto fought that day on the roof, when they pushed you aside, you felt yourself breaking…And then the final blow came when Sasuke-kun carelessly left you on that bench alone at night, after knocking you out leaving you vulnerable to who ever would wonder by…and when Naruto couldn't bring him back."

The figure walked closer to Sakura who was staring at it wide eyed.

"When Riyou-sama showed up he offered you a path to help make you complete again. You trained, and trained and trained with two senseis, and yes you became stronger, but the feeling it never went away. And now you want to show the shinobi world just how great you truly are…you want someone to hurt like you do. Kakashi, Sasuke-kun, Naruto you want them to know how it feels…you want everyone to know how it feels…to be a shadow to everyone else's shadow… in a world full of shadows. But now it's too late."

"No! Shut up!" Sakura said as her eyes began to water and she stood up with defiance in her eyes.

"You've failed Sakura, you not only failed Riyou-sama and Shigakure but you have failed yourself." The figure said becoming just as angry as Sakura.

"No!" Sakura shouted and ran to a wall with a chakra enhanced fist and punched it, just to realize it wouldn't break, she ran around the run frantically trying to punch her way out but nothing worked.

"You should give up. Except death, it's easier that way, in death you'll have no more worries, no need to strive to be better than you are now, no more harsh words from those who don't know the pain you hold inside. Death is freedom…embrace it."

"This has to be a genjustu! I…can't be dead! Not yet!" Sakura formed hand signs "Kai!" she shouted expecting everything to be some type of illusion, expecting to be right back fighting the sword mistress…but it didn't work, she was still there. She dropped to her knees again and held her head down shielding her eyes as her shoulders shook, and she wrapped her arms around herself as if she was feeling some unbearable cold breeze against her flesh.

The figure cloaked in red walked over to her and put a pale feminine hand on her shoulders.

"You're not much different from when you were a genin, you still cry when you feel helpless, you're still weak. It's good, that you're finally embracing how the world views you, you've accepted just how weak you truly are, you've accepted a death chosen for you."

"NO I HAVE NOT!" The figure stumbled back, after having her hand shoved away, and watched as Sakura's body became encased in a large amount of green chakra, that became fully black, and began to develop red spots in it.

"I've died once already and that only made me stronger! I'm not weak anymore! I'm not her!" Sakura yelled standing up, her eyes glowing red, as she pointed at her weeping genin self. "Nothing! Not you, not that sword wielding bitch, not even death itself will stand in my way!" Sakura yelled her face reflecting all her anger, as her body pulsed with chakra.

The genin version of Sakura looked up from behind her hands with shock written all over her face.

"Humph. I think it's time." The cloaked figure said no longer talking in a angry tone but a excited one, as the genin version of Sakura walked up to the cloak figure and looked up at her curiously then back at Sakura, then grabbed the hand of the cloak figure and held it like a child would it's mother hand.

The child pulled the cloaked figure over to an enraged Sakura and grabbed Sakura's hand.

Sakura stared at her genin self in confusion. The genin version of Sakura looked up at her with curiosity and then straight ahead. Forgetting her rage in her confusion Sakura followed the genin version of her self's gaze to see that the room had changed. They were now in a dark room that was illuminated by a green glow coming from up ahead where a large wooden gate stood reinforced with steel, taller than Kohonagakure village's gate. The gate had a large metal lock on it with a seal placed on top of it. It looked like a large prison cell.

Sakura let herself be pulled to the gate by her genin self that held her hand and the hand of the cloaked figure.

Once Sakura got closer to the gate she could see a…Black door! She wasn't sure how she was able to see it. It was against a pitch black background, and surrounded by darkness, yet she could. It was as if her eyes weren't picking it up but some other sense that she wasn't aware she had. It felt like a pulling sensation inside of her very being, like it was apart of her…something you didn't need visible proof to know it existed because you could just feel it…like wind.

"What is this place?" Sakura asked out loud, and then looked down to see that the genin version of her had released her hand and the cloaked figures hand and began changing right before Sakura's eyes. Now the genin version of her was her age…she had aged before her eyes to become fifteen years old, she touched Sakura's cheek and vanished with a sad smile on her face.

"It's the black door you've been searching for."

Sakura looked to her right to see the cloak figure facing her.

"It's always been here, part of you just wasn't ready to find it. Do you really want to go back?" The figure asked calmly.

Sakura gave the figure a determined look, to which the figured turned away from her and touched the gate, instantly being transported on the other side to be the one locked behind the bars. Sakura watched as the cloak figure opened the black door and closed it behind it.

"Hey!" Sakura yelled, but jumped back as she noticed the seal on the gate burst into flames disintegrating instantly making the giant metal lock drop to the ground and shatter, as the gates began to open.

Sakura ran through not wasting anytime to question what just occurred as she made it to the black door, and put her hand on the black door knob.

She felt a strong array of emotions pouring from behind the door, but the one that stood out the most was anger. Sakura took a deep breath and twisted the door knob; she opened the door slowly peeping in to see complete darkness, but rushed inside anyway in her determination to get back to Shigakure.

Sakura couldn't see a thing, not even her hand in front of her face. She jumped when she heard the door behind her slam shut.

"You've finally made it…took you long enough." The voice of the cloaked figure said as a green light filled the room and revealed the figure in the center of the room.

"Now I guess I will have to let you see what the black door has inside.

Sakura watched in fascination as the figure began removing the hood of the cloak off of their head.

"Kami…"

Sakura stared eyes wide in shock at who she saw in front of her. It was 'inner' inner Sakura, she had the same symbol on her forehead, she looked exactly like Sakura, the same age the same height, except her hair was longer, it was actually thigh length and floating around her to an invisible wind. Chains ran from her ankles and arms into the darkness surrounding her. Her face held a smirk.

Sakura's eyes met Inner's eyes.

"It's time." Inner said as Sakura's breath caught in her throat as the chains holding inner broke and vanished and both Sakura's body and Inner's body were being propelled towards each other at a fast speed by some invisible force, Sakura didn't even have time to scream as they impacted and her mind faded into a dark abyss.

Anger. Extreme anger, and aggravation that's what Sakura felt as she opened her eyes, to find herself back in Shigakure's kage tower. She wanted to move but her body felt as if it was pinned down to something. She felt numb everywhere…and around her and on her was blood. Her blood she was bleeding…there were katanas protruding from her legs, arms, pinning her in place, but she didn't feel any pain…but she wanted something really bad, so bad she craved it so much that she couldn't stay still, and before she knew it her body began to wiggle and jerk wildly until she was no longer pinned to the wall or ground, which at the moment she didn't care what it was, she just knew she had to satisfy this odd urge she had. She made it to her feet head bowed low, swords still sticking out of her like a pin cushion. She wondered how she could even move at all, she should be dead from all the organs she knew the swords were most likely pierced through, but her thoughts of why she was alive were short lived when she heard a gasp and a voice that made her anger and her aggravation increased ten fold alone with the odd craving for something she couldn't place.

"H-How are you alive?"

And that's when everything clicked in place, Sakura began to chuckle and shake her head as if full of mirth.

"Alive?" Sakura asked with a wicked glint in her now red eyes forming hand signs creating a clone that took off in the direction that the dark matter chakra ball went falling down.

Sakura face became an angry scowl, as she began pulling the swords for out of her body ignoring the pain.

"Now I wonder who in the hell ever said I was dead?" Sakura asked in an amused yet angry tone as she continued to pull swords out of her body.

"B-but."

"Speak louder! I can't here what you're saying!" Sakura yelled out smiling.

"You were dead! Your pulse… this is unfathomable!" The mistress said holding the hilt of her sword tightly.

"Now that's it Mistress bitch, for a minute there I thought my hearing was going out." Sakura said summoning clones to pull the rest of the swords out of her body as her smile widened to reveal sharp pointy fangs.

"Maybe, you are worthy of dying in Shigakure after all." The woman said all forms of panic and confusion gone from her voice as she held the sword over her head, causing a slight wind to pick up around her.

After the last sword was pulled out by one of her clones, Sakura closed her eyes and began concentrating on all of the wounds in her body, healing them instantly.

"When this forbidden jutsu wears off I'm going to be out for awhile." Sakura said doing quick stretches, and looking up just to see the woman had already lunged at her with her gigantic sword.

Sakura just stood there with excitement written all over her faced mixed in with anger, not even fazed about the life ending weapon and it's mistress coming straight for her, as she balled her hands up into fist and cracked her knuckles, which were covered in black matter chakra with red specks in it.

Sakura smiled when the sharp part of the sword came inches from her torso, as she jumped up with amazing speed and landed a hand on the sword to propel herself upward, just above the sword mistress.

Sakura fist enhanced with dark matter chakra aimed for the sword mistress's head, but at the last minute the sword mistress managed to turn around and block Sakura hit with the sword; however that didn't detour Sakura she continued to throw wild punches, covered in chakra which the sword mistress just blocked with her sword.

To the naked eye it would seem as if Sakura was getting nowhere, but upon closer inspection of the sword mistresses sword one could begin to see little crack forming running from the hilt to the tip of it.

"Die already cha!" Sakura yelled punching faster and harder using speeds that could rival Lee's fast Taijitsu.

The sword mistress was using equal speed but her movements were getting sluggish displaying her tiredness.

The sword mistress managed to pull away from Sakura to get a little space before speaking.

"You shall be the one to die here by my hands in the name of master Kentan I will…" Sakura didn't give the mistress time to finish her little speech before she began a fury of chakra enhanced punches and kicks.

"I!"

KICK

"Will not!"

ROUND HOUSE KICK.

"Die here! By your hands!"

KICK

"And for the record… Fuck master Kentan!"

PUNCH.

A sickening crack filled the air, followed by the sound of something shattering, and then the clinging of whatever it was bouncing off of the stairs and walls, causing Sakura to stop her kicks and punches, just to realize that the sword mistress was no longer before her, landing on the rail of the stairs Sakura looked around to see the sword mistress on her hands and knees not moving with a steel grip on a…Sword hilt?

The gigantic sword had been broken by Sakura's last punch, proof of that were the shards scattered everywhere and the Sword mistress holding the hilt of the once magnificent sword hilt that now held a jagged piece of sword where the sword apparently had broken at.

Sakura watched in mild fascination as the women began holding what was left of the sword close to her heart in an odd kind of embrace, as she now sat back on her legs.

Curious to if this was her way of surrendering Sakura jumped down a few feet away from her, but the woman made no move to acknowledge her she just stayed there still.

The sword mistress began rising to her feet slowly still clutching onto the broken sword hilt, and finally breaking the silence.

"It seems that being around a barbarian, has caused me to act in such an improper manner as displaying an emotional attachment such as this." The sword mistress waved her hand signaling the shards of glass. To which Sakura just tightened her fist at being called barbaric preparing to punch the women's lights out and show her just how barbaric she could be.

"Perhaps your sensei is more capable than I was originally inclined to believe, however this is just a miniscule amount of my true power. It has indeed been awhile since I've come across…" The women trailed off as if trying to find the right words. "A target that is actually deserving of the absolute worst death I can provide." The women finished with venom dripping from every word.

"I'm honored" Sakura Said through clench teeth and an eye roll.

"How can such filth…"

Sakura had had enough, as her chakra enhanced fist connected with the sword mistress's skull.

"Substitution?" Sakura asked smiling wickedly as the women she thought she punched became a loge that shattered into saw dust.

The women appeared right behind Sakura, Sakura spun around to see miniature senbon sized katanas flying at her, with chakra strings attached.

Sakura formed quick hands signs.

"Pulse no jutsu!"

The senbon needles came within a few inches of Sakura before hitting some type of invisible shield and bouncing back in various directions.

"Pulse no jutsu? How do you know one of master Kentan's jutsu's?" The woman asked seemingly surprised, as she danced around the redirected projectiles.

Sakura's attention went to the clone she had sent to retrieve the fallen condensed dark matter chakra ball that had returned. Not noticing her clone's paleness Sakura asked about the condensed chakra ball.

"Well where is it?" Sakura asked her clone completely turning her back on the women behind her, which seemed to tick her off even more. The sword mistress came at the back of Sakura's form with a normal sized Katana that she pulled from out of her cloak.

"Bitch can't you see I'm talking!" Sakura yelled spinning and punching the sword mistress square in the abdomen sending her flying back at such a great force her body impacted with the wall with a sickening crack and then slide down to the stairs, leaving an indent of her form in the wall.

Sakura balanced on the railing of the stairs and turned back around to face her clone after giving the twitching sword mistress a glare.

Sakura noticed for the first time the state her clone was in. The clone stood as if in pain clenching her stomach with her right arm with wobbly knees.

"Something's not right…" The clone said weakly looking at Sakura with wide red eyes.

"Damnit!" The clone fell over and puffed out of existence, immediately flooding Sakura's mind with its short lived memories.

FLASH BACK CLONES POINT OF VIEW

Clone Sakura took off in the direction that the dark matter chakra ball went falling down, after being summoned. Clone Sakura dived off the side of the stairs in a free fall looking around noticing as she got lower how empty the stairs were.

Clenching her fist as she made it to the very first floor of the large pagoda black brick building, she did a back flip and landed perfectly on her feet. There weren't any signs that the chakra ball had made impact not even an out of place stone. But where were all of the stair case travelers?

**And Add Cliffy Here=**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: I know this update took forever but my computer had crashed and I lost the chapter I had written, so I had to write it all over again on someone else computer until I get my computer fixed, then their computer went to hell... So I got a new one. If I didn't have a good memory, I'd be screwed. This chapter is extra-long in my efforts to make up for taking so long to update. **

**And I would like to give a Doomo Arigatou Gozaimasu to: **

**SB01, nekozr, shadow-binder, MyLastDyingWish, Sakura is number 1, ShyTan'ith,**

**Miss Chocolat, WolfAngel-Kaiasa, CYUNME, 9 T Kitsune, Emilx311**

**And I would also like to say Gomenaisai for taking so long to update. **

m(_ _)m

**Brief Chapter Explanation: The last chapter left off with the clone that Sakura made in Shigakure's POV, but I figured in order to explain what happened that I needed to also show the Kohonagakure clone that was created in chapter 7 POV from creation till when everything goes downhill. **

**I hope I still have readers and that everyone enjoys this chapter. **

**I appreciate your reviews.**

**My last chapter didn't have a disclaimer so:**

I Do Not Own Naruto x2

**,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,**

**Kohonagakure Clone Sakura's POV.**

Sakura put her hands together and rapidly formed symbols to create a clone using irregular chakra.

"Awaiting your orders." The Sakura clone said standing at attention watching the original.

Clone Sakura watched as the 'original' stared at her, apparently having noticed the green chakra with more black spots in it floating around the clone, slowly seeping into Clone Sakura's body until no more of it was visible.

The clone internally smirked as the 'original' touched her face, but that smirk faltered as she saw a glint in the 'original's' eyes and readied herself for what was to come.

The 'original' enhanced her fist with chakra and punched clone Sakura in the stomach causing her to fly backwards and hit her head against the side of the roof.

Clone Sakura mentally laughed. "The original sure knows how to welcome someone into the world." Clone Sakura thought as her hand began to glow, and she began healing herself with medical chakra.

"Give your clone your orders we're running out of time." Clone Sakura heard Riyou-sama tell her 'original'.

"Hai. Clone I'll be gone for a while. You are to act like me and go on with my normal life and routine."

Clone Sakura walked up to her original, listening quietly.

"Hai." Clone Sakura said not waiting a minute longer she formed hand signs and disappeared.

As C Sakura reappeared in an empty hospital room, she raised her hands in the air and stretched her limbs.

"Sakura!"

C Sakura rolled her eyes and put her arms down to her side as she listened to the angry foot steps and voice of her sensei and Shizune's calming words of "I'm sure working in the hospital won't over exert her Tsunade!"

Deciding she wasn't in the mood for their placating C Sakura opened up a window and jumped.

Her eyes should have been wide with fear and her mouth open in a loud scream having just jumped from the top floor of the hospital but all she did was remain calm. She even closed her eyes for a brief moment enjoying the warm wind as it caressed her hair and skin.

Clone Sakura opened her eyes and saw the ground fast approaching, with careless villagers walking calming by. She formed hand signs and vanished yet again covered in dark mattered chakra, just to reappear again on the ground standing normally. Except for the numerous "sumimasen." No one seemed to give a damn if a person just randomly materialized out of nowhere, especially if they were a shinobi.

"Hm…what should I do first?" C Sakura wondered to herself aloud.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura looked up ahead to see Naruto running up to her seeming even more hyper than usual.

"Hey Sakura-chan! Wanna go on a date?"

C Sakura was just going to turn her back to him and walk away but then she remembered her 'original's' orders. It was sad really that her original didn't understand exactly what she had created. C Sakura wasn't a normal clone she didn't puff away when kicked or stabbed, nor did she bend backwards and do whatever her 'original' wanted. She was a good ninety-percent dark mattered chakra and a tad bit more emotionally unstable than here 'original' since she was the first dark mattered chakra clone that her original had ever created. Some would call her flawed but to herself she couldn't be better. She would play nice for now at least, simply because what benefited the 'original' benefited her in a way.

Smiling a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes Clone Sakura faced Naruto, and said something that she internally knew she'd regret.

"I'm not paying." As she turned her back to the annoyingly hyperactive blonde and began walking towards Ichiraku.

As the sunset and C Sakura calmly walked into her apartment she knew her earlier thought of knowing she'd regret going with the blonde idiot was right. For soon as he spent just five minutes in her presence, he kept asking if she was feeling ok, kept telling her that she didn't look well.

C Sakura smiled.

She had 'accidentally' wasted her bowl of hot scalding ramen in his lap after that last statement. Watching with a sad kind of glee as he wiggled around on the floor. However, she couldn't tell if he was making such a fuss over the lost ramen or the pain. Hmm…maybe both. Then the woman who worked at Ichiraku ran from behind the counter with a towel attempting to help him.

C Sakura could tell that he was embarrassed but just tried her hardest not to laugh as she noticed from a short glance to her left that the old man behind the counter was giving her a disapproving look.

She had just carelessly shrugged and then turned her head back to look at the Ichiraku woman attempting to help Naruto.

C Sakura's face took on a frown as she thought about that event.

Naruto had stopped his struggles for one moment that seemed to go unnoticed by everyone but C Sakura, as his blue eyes connected with hers flashing red. It had happened so fast that it didn't even seem real. After that C Sakura had left Naruto on the floor as she walked out of Ichiraku's and decided that she would go home before she took her irritation out on someone that the original would be pissed about, after all once she was reabsorbed they'd be one again and she'd be pissed as well.

It was interesting realizing that you were alive yet not really the real you. A clone is merely apart of the person it's summoned from. A ghost of that person, no feelings, desires or intent that differ from the original. Unless…that is if they were made like any other average clone.

Clone Sakura found conflicting desires, intent and feelings. It was that damn ten percent of average run- of- the- mill green chakra, that kept her from saying "Fuck it" and going through kicking Naruto's ass then finding a few other idiots and kicking their asses too. It was a shame she knew the original wanted it as much as she did, after all they were the same person. Nevertheless, C Sakura knew that her original still had a lot of green chakra coursing through her, and just that kept her from going through with her desires.

Ten percent was Clone Sakura's only leash, the only voice in her mind making her slightly obedient. C Sakura knew it wouldn't be that way for long, for she knew eventually there would be no more green chakra in the 'original'. Clone Sakura's desires and the original Sakura's desires, intent, and feelings would be one in the same and they'd be leash-less and nothing would be free from the hell and fury…from the torment that was Sakura.

With those thoughts C-Sakura went to her bedroom and fell asleep ignoring her growling stomach deciding she'd eat in the morning.

**Next Day Evening**

Clone Sakura had woken up early took a shower and made breakfast then went to the hospital to do her shift. She had gotten through a good five hours without killing the sick or injured or wounding her co-workers…just to have Tsunade come in telling her that she wasn't suppose to be in at least until another week after what happened at Sunagakure.

'Apparently the Kazekage is still having random bitch fits.' C Sakura had mused inwardly, before smiling at her sensei and saying "Hai Tsunade-sama."

Why should she have argued? If she got to get off early even better, besides she couldn't heal anyone anyway. She wasn't even sure if dark mattered chakra could heal and if she used up the ten percent of green chakra no good would come of that. Basically she had spent her whole day fixing wounds the traditional stitch it or bandage it way, and if someone came in near death she used just enough chakra to stabilize them and then did the rest the un-shinobi way: using bandages and telling them to ask for Tsunade.

Hm… maybe that was why her sensei had seemed so concerned about her and told her to go home and rest.

So here, C Sakura found herself walking down the streets of Kohona going to relax in a nice hot spring. She had used up about three percent of her ten percent green chakra and she felt a tad bit violent and unstable than she was sure that the original would like.

"Sakura-chan!"

Clone Sakura's fist clenched so hard and so fast that her nails pierced into her palm and drew blood as her whole body tensed.

The hyper active baka was the reason why she got up so early. He had come to her apartment knocking on the door right as the sun rose. Which was weird for Naruto because she knew that he slept in late when he wasn't on a mission or had to train. She had opened her door ready to unleash hell's fury on him until she saw the worried look on his face. She had calmly told him she was fine, called him a 'baka' and then slammed the door in his face and gave him a threat to go away.

And now, here he was again!

Clone Sakura calmed her features and slowly turned around just to see that Naruto had brought reinforcements one of which caught her eyes immediately. Temari, Gaara's sister. What was she doing here? Then Clone Sakura's eyes went directly to the others who Naruto brought along. The pig (Ino), Shikamaru, Lee…and Neji what the hell were they doing here? The pig and Lee Sakura could understand but Shikamaru and Neji? The 'original' hardly ever even talked to them.

Naruto approached her.

"Sakura-chan we're going to have some barbeque want to come?" Naruto asked with his normal hyper-ness.

"Sorry but I have to meet Tsunade-sama." Sakura said turning away.

"Come on Tsunade-baa-chan won't care, I talked to her." Naruto said gently grabbing Sakura's wrist as she turned away.

Three percent of green chakra was a lot to loose Clone Sakura finally decided as she couldn't control the anger that rose from Naruto grabbing her wrist and practically growled at him.

"Naruto. Let. Go." Clone Sakura said trying to free her wrist without pummeling the idiot.

The hyper happiness immediately left Naruto's face to be replaced with a look of worry as he stared down at her.

"Sakura-chan I think you should go see Tsunade-Baa-chan." Naruto said in a serious tone.

"I think you should let me go baka before I make you." Clone Sakura growled out fist covered in dark mattered chakra.

"Fore-head he's right."

Sakura looked behind Naruto to see Neji using his Byakugun on her and Temari and Shikamaru giving her a calculating look.

'What the fuck is this, a shinobi intervention?' Clone Sakura though furiously.

"Sakura…"

Even Lee was being serious.

Clone Sakura rolled her eyes and aimed her chakra enhanced fist at Naruto's head just to have it grabbed.

Clone Sakura looked up fuming just to see Shizune holding her wrist.

"Sakura stop."

C Sakura eased her wrist free from both of them, calmed down, and laughed.

"I'm find see." Clone Sakura said smiling sweetly.

"Sakura all of the patients you worked on today… none of them were healed at all one almost bled to death if it wasn't for Tsunade that patient would have died. Sakura I need you to do something." Shizune said holding up a kunai she had in her other hand.

Clone Sakura eyed it confused as Shizune brought it down against her arm wincing as she cut herself.

"Heal this." Shizune said pointing to the bleeding wound.

"I'm not on duty." Sakura said frowning.

"Heal it."

"Why?"

"Sakura…"

Clone Sakura reached her hand towards the wound, if she healed her it wouldn't take a lot of green chakra but she couldn't use what was keeping her slightly stable… for their own good. So C Sakura pulled her hand back and spoke calmly.

"I'm fine. I don't understand why all of you are so concerned. I'm a shinobi, and shinobi die everyday. I could die today or tomorrow. So I was revived, and I'm suppose to act the same after having a sword stab through me and slice from my heart to my spine in half? I'm a shinobi not a civilian child. I'd die for this village…so stop treating me like I'm less than you are…like I'm weak!" Clone Sakura said with venom.

"Sakura that's enough!" Tsunade's voiced boomed through the now quiet streets as she marched up to Sakura with a Bandaged Kakashi in tow.

Five minutes later Clone Sakura found herself in Tsunade's empty office waiting to be examined.

Clone Sakura sat on a chair knowing she could just teleport out of the office but what good would that do? They would just give her original hell when she came back and Clone Sakura was no more.

The door opened. Clone Sakura didn't look up until a scroll was put in front of her. When she looked up she saw Temari standing before her.

"The Kazekage told me to deliver this to you, and to you only."

Clone Sakura stared at the scroll curiously before grabbing it and then looking up at Temari who still held on to it at the same time.

"The council doesn't know about Gaara's regression, and we want to keep it that way, whatever is in this scroll if it's proof of…"

"The Kage being an asshole." Clone Sakura cut in smirking.

Temari frowned.

"You're not much different. He knows something about you, he won't tell Kankuro or I but we can tell. Whenever anyone mentions your name he randomly smashes things with sand…if I find out you did something I'll…"

"You'll what sick your crazed Kazekage on me?" Clone Sakura said smirk growing wider. "I-"

SLAP

Temari's palm connected hard with Clone's Sakura's cheek.

Silence filled the room as Temari pulled her hand back and Clone Sakura slowly turned her head back to look shocked at the fan mistress.

Clone Sakura's hand glowed green and Temari flinched back expecting a powerful blow, but Clone Sakura just brought her hand up to her red stinging cheek and healed it, using more chakra than was needed.

Clone Sakura covered her fist in dark mattered chakra as her whole aura screamed 'destruction'. C Sakura smiled a sadistic smile, as Temari's hand shook as she pulled out her fan.

Clone Sakura was too enraged to hear the door open.

"Oi you…"

Clone Sakura lunged for Temari who jumped backwards on top of Tsunade's desk

C Sakura pulled out kunai and threw them at Temari who reflected them away with her fan, but missed one that grazed her cheek leaving a crimson line behind.

C Sakura sent chakra to her feet and jumped on top of the desk aiming an axe kick at Temari.

Temari barely dodged out of the way by falling to the side onto the floor and rolling.

Splinters filled the air as Tsunade's desk lay on the floor in pieces.

"It's funny…you slap me and it stung but if I slap you your head would pop off." Clone Sakura said smirking wickedly as Temari held up her fan to block C Sakura's punch just to have Sakura's fist go through her fan.

Clone Sakura pulled her fist back out and dropped her arms to her side and turned around.

She wasn't in control of her movements.

"Wha-" Clone Sakura's eyes landed on Shikamaru who was controlling her movements.

"Troublesome" She heard Shikamaru mutter.

Blood began to drip from C Sakura's mouth; her nose began to bleed as her heart rate increased.

Shikamaru apparently noticed the blood.

"Temari-san did you?"

"No I didn't get a hit in."

Blood began coming from Clone Sakura's ears, and random bruises and fresh bleeding cuts began appearing all over her body as she gasped and cringed in pain trying to break free from Shikamaru's hold.

"Shikamaru stop! What are you doing?" Temari's voice yelled.

It was as if some invisible opponent was fighting Clone Sakura and no one could see them.

Clone Sakura was in so much pain all over, she didn't notice someone else enter into the room, and she ignored the sounds of fighting.

She didn't even realize that Shikamaru had let her loose as she stood wide-eyed breathing fast.

Swords…Knives.

It felt like hot blades searing her flesh, piercing her repeatedly.

She ignored the panicked voices around her.

Arms…they were attempting to move her, but she wouldn't move she couldn't it was like some force holding her in place.

"Ahhhhh!" She let out a soul piercing scream as holes dripping blood opened all over her body as some invisible force pierced her internals and she collapsed onto the floor.

Her vision was blurry.

She was born twenty-four hours ago… all she could wonder as her heart beat it's last beat and arms lifted her and held her against a warm running body was:

"What the fuck happened to her 'original'?"

"Wah! You do get into a lot of trouble don'cha!"

"I think she's the embodiment of the essence of trouble all wrapped into a petite pink haired bundle. Shit I wasn't even this much trouble for my sensei."

"You liar! You lit your sensei's hair on fire!"

SMACK

A loud smack sounded through the area.

"You crazy abusive psycho Wah!"

"Oh piss off you hell spawn."

"Old maid!"

"Keep it up you little bastard! I'm going to shove you back into whatever brought you into this world!"

"Wah harsh!"

"Wah and shut up and finish healing her you brat!"

"No man would ever want someone like you, you should be more like Chibasa!"

"I'm pushing you off the gate in your sleep."

"Wah! You're crazy."

Clone Sakura listened to the voices amused. She didn't know who was healing her, it didn't sound like anyone that she knew. The voice that kept saying 'Wah' sounded like a child and oddly enough she wasn't sure how…but she could feel the hyperactivity pouring off his voice. The child was healing her. And then there was the voice of a woman. She sounded extremely irritated.

Clone Sakura opened her eyes, just to stare up into wide bright orange eyes.

"Who are you?" Clone Sakura asked curiously.

The tanned- reddish- orange hair boy grinned widely.

"I'm Clone Tome! And that old hag over there is Clone Gaki!" The child said beaming.

Clone Sakura decided at that moment that the child was even more hyper than Naruto.

"You little bastard!" The woman hit the child upside his head.

"Wah…Hey are you hungry?" The child asked instantly forgetting about the hit.

"Wow you're random." Clone Sakura said out loud.

"We clones have to stick together!" Tome cheered.

Clone Sakura sat up and instantly noticed that she was in some kind of dark candle lit cellar. The cellar was so small it only had room for the three of them. If she moved without paying attention, she could accidentally get burned by the little candles.

"We're from…" The boy trailed sliding up the sleeve of his black cloak to reveal his Shigakure forehead protector around his upper skinny arm. His forehead protector was black with silver spots in it.

The woman used her thumb to indicate the forehead protector around her neck, which was black with gold specks of chakra in it.

"We met your original." The woman said in a bored manner.

"She's way less violent than you though" The woman said as a second thought.

"Your original is taking the genin exams so we were ordered to keep an eye on you since you weren't stable."

"Weren't?" Clone Sakura asked noticing she felt calmer.

"Look on your stomach." C Gaki said.

Clone Sakura pulled up her shirt just to find a black character tattooed to her skin. It read "Stability".

"Thus the reason we're in a cellar with candles." Gaki said now sounding bored.

C Sakura smoothed her fingers over the seal, before looking back up at C Gaki.

"That seal may or may not hold that's why we bought you here." Gaki said staring at the flame of a candle in front of her.

"Where is here?" Clone Sakura asked putting her shirt down.

"Otogakure." Clone Gaki said side glancing at C Sakura.

"Where?" Clone Sakura's eyes went wide, the original was going to be pissed, and she was getting her own self labeled as a missing-nin.

"We figured if the seal didn't hold up and you wanted to go on a killing spree why not here." The woman said with laughter in her voice.

"Are all clones of our village as morbid as us?" Clone Sakura asked smirking.

"What's morbid about it? We're in a village of rogue shinobi, they already signed their death certificates when they chose to become shinobi." The woman said the corners of her eyes crinkling in mirth.

Clone Sakura just smiled.

"What happened back in Kohona?" Clone Sakura asked absentmindedly touching the place on her left cheek that Temari had slapped her. The memory made her blood boil.

"Wah! You should have seen it! You were all bloody and hole-y and bruised and you were in a puddle of blood and Gaki had to carry you! No one knew what happened! We puffed in, attacked the two shinobi in there without being seen using our cloaks to hide our identity then we puffed out! Your Kage was fun to play with!"

"Tsunade-sama… You fought her?" Clone Sakura asked anger briefly forgotten as she stared at the genin looking boy, wondering how he was still alive going against Tsunade's temper and chakra enhanced limbs. Tome looked like a average ten or twelve year old, if it wasn't for his ninja forehead protector and clothing she wouldn't even have guessed him to be in the death dealing profession of being a shinobi. Tome looked too innocent to have ever touched blood, as if his wide eyes had never been witness to the atrocities of the world. Then again, no one was ever just their appearance, everyone wears some mask or another and Clone Sakura and her 'original' knew that more than anyone else.

"And she hits hard! Are you listening?"

C Sakura snapped out of her thoughts to see Tome giving her a curious look.

C Sakura just ignored it and calmly asked, "Did you kill anyone?"

"We were just ordered by our originals to look after you, so everyone's still whole and alive." C Gaki said stretching her neck from left to right and rolling her shoulders free of whatever tension that they held. "You sure do have a lot of people who care about you." C Gaki said relaxing her back against the dry rotten wood of the cellar wall.

Clone Sakura just laughed, but chose not to comment back on that last statement. C Gaki didn't seem to notice the darkness in that laugh but C Tome did.

"Don't worry shes a idiot." C Tome said dodging the fist of said idiot, and knocking over a candle catching the dark rotten wooden debris laying around the cellar on fire, causing both Clone Sakura and Clone Gaki to jump back from the flames.

"You fool." Clone Gaki sighed rubbing at her forehead before putting Clone Tome in a choke hold and catching Clone Sakura off guard by interlocking her leg around C Sakura's leg while using the hand on C Tome and her free hand to form Signs that caused all of them to disappear in a puff of dark mattered chakra. When they reappeared, they were in a dark wet alleyway. Clone Sakura was sure from the ammonia like smell that the alleyway wasn't wet with just water.

Clone Gaki immediately took her leg from around Clone Sakura's and released her choke hold on C Tome, who sputtered but then stopped at the sound of yelling and immediately put his cloak on his head, soon after Clone Gaki did the same thing.

"I could have teleported myself." Clone Sakura irritated, as she sent a glare at C Gaki.

"Your chakra's bound so you couldn't have." Gaki said casually.

Clone Sakura tried to send chakra to her fist but none would come.

"Unbind it!" Clone Sakura said irritated.

"Can't, orders. Something happened to your original's chakra, if we unbind you, you might explode and wipe out something that isn't due to be wiped out. But just in case the seal doesn't hold that's why we brought you to this village." Clone Gaki said calmly popping her knuckles.

"Where's Riyou-sama?" Clone Sakura asked trying not to punch the woman beside her.

"Who? You mean Do…" Clone Tome began just to be interrupted by a glare from C Gaki that could freeze souls.

"You need to disguise yourself, before anyone sees you here." Clone Tome said looking straight ahead, as she pulled a brown bundle of material from out of her cloak and threw it towards Clone Sakura.

Clone Sakura caught it mid air and stared at it.

"It's a disguise. You should hurry I can smell smoke and the building to your left is about to explode."

Clone Sakura unraveled the bundle just to find a dusty brown cloak. She noticed it was just made out of regular material not dark mattered chakra as she shook it out and put it on covering her head with the wide hood.

Clone Gaki and Clone Tome just began to walk out of the alley.

C Sakura gave one quick glance to the poorly built wooden…what looked to be some type of store building. Quickly figuring that, that must have been the building, which contained the cellar, she quickly followed behind the two other clones.

Once they reached the now eerily quiet streets they picked up their pace walking in the opposite direction of the building that had yet to explode.

The Moon hung in the sky peeking from behind clouds once in awhile to light the dirt road streets.

Clone Sakura abruptly stopped as a shiver ran down her spine. She turned her head to look into the vast darkness of another alley. As a cloud moved from in front of the moon, light illuminated the alley and the form of a dark figure became visible. Standing as if they were some permanent fixture of the alley and nothing was out of the ordinary.

Clone Sakura could see their face. It was a menacing looking man…but then again anyone dressed in a black cloak in an alley amongst shadows in the wee hours of the night, instantly became someone to be weary of.

"Hell even Hinata could look menacing in such an environment." Clone Sakura mused as she furthered study the man.

His mouth was set in a dark sneer. A jagged scar stretching from his forehead over his eye to his cheek vertically, as honey blonde hair cascaded around his somewhat handsome chiseled face, stopping at his shoulders.

What intrigued Clone Sakura the most was the man's eyes. Cold, cruel brown eyes seemed to stare into her very being as if he knew, that she was a mockery of a real person, as if he knew she wasn't her 'original'. The very look he was sending her seemed to disrupt the arrangement of dark chakra she was made of causing a slight pain to pierce her head. She tried to snap her gaze from him, but it was as if she was in a trance.

Clone Sakura's mouth began to move, as her mind remained shut out from what words would form.

"Kentan-sama" In a quiet whisper the name slipped from her lips, causing the man's sneer to fall from his face to be replaced by a look of shock.

Clone Sakura's feet seem to move of their own will as her mind froze in similar shock.

She didn't know who the man was, but she had the strangest urge to reach him, as her feet moved faster. When she made it into the alley the moons illumination became hidden again by clouds, and she was engulfed by the darkness.

The odd trance she was in broke as she shook her head and tried to look around in the dark, only to find that not even her well-trained shinobi eyes could pierce through the thick darkness.

Suddenly her body was forcefully shoved against the hard wall of a building in the alley, as arms held her shoulders tightly. She tried to kick out at the darkness with a chakra-enhanced leg just to remember that her chakra had been bound. She struggled harder as a knee pried her legs apart and settled between them, and one hand left her shoulder to cover her mouth.

Moonlight graced the alley again and Clone Sakura found herself face to face with the blonde man, who stared into her eyes grinning psychotically. He lowered his face closer to C Sakura's and for a second Clone Sakura thought that he was about to remove his hand and kiss her, so she struggled with all she had, but it was futile. All she could do was glare as the man closed his eyes and moved his head to the side of Clone Sakura's head. His ice-cold lips grazing her warm ear.

"He thought that I wouldn't find out about you. He actually believed that he could hide you from me, that he could take my place?" The man growled out as he pushed his knee upward instantly ceasing all of Clone Sakura's movements.

"Your death was my calling card. When I went to find you I found this." The man said reaching a hand into his black cloak to pull out a swirling ball of dark mattered chakra.

Clone Sakura tried to head butt him, but he just dodged.

"Know your place!" The man growled like a rabbit beast, hot spit flying into C Sakura's face.

"Fuck off." Clone Sakura said , and in return the man grabbed hold of her pink locks in a death grip pulled her face closed to his and then slammed her head hard against the building she was pinned against, causing her vision to momentarily blacken before turning back to normal.

"When I realized the idiot had put you in the exams and my spy told me about a clone in Kohonagakure, I decided I'd give your 'original' a message she'd never forget, call it a welcome to the village gift. Or should I say you? Since you're about to become one with the original again… the message is for you."

Clone Sakura froze, eyes wide.

"Here's my message." The man said moving his knee to Sakura stomach as he pulled his other hand away and held her in place with his knee. He formed hand signs using one hand, and then removed his knee. Faster than Clone Sakura could blink he shoved the condensed chakra ball into her stomach and whispered "unseal".

Clone Sakura screamed in pain, a blood- churning scream, as her own chakra was unbound and her eyes became red.

A blinding rage took over her body. And she began to hunger desperately for something she couldn't name. It was horrible, as if she hadn't eaten in all her life, as if she not just her body was hungry but her soul.

She thought she'd die! Dear kami! She thought the hunger would rip her limb from fucking limb.

C Sakura fell to her knees holding her head in agony as her eyes became blood red and her nails and pink hair lengthened.

Fighting and voices pierced through her crazed state, making it to her mind to be deciphered.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Sealing off the raw power surge to the clone, was smart I admit, but what entertainment could arise once the seal was broken? This is my gift to a new shinobi to my village. This is training, let's see if the clone can fair any better than the original? Rejoice in my gifts you fools!" The man yelled giving off a manic laugh before his voice completely disappeared from the alley.

"Can we take her chakra away again? Do you think Do… I mean do you think the original has been giving her control thingy yet?"

"Once the first seal was broken we can't reseal her chakra we'll just have to stay back while she demolishes the village, then we can make her apart of the original again."

But the two voices were soon to discover that their worries weren't necessary as Clone Sakura's body began shaking uncontrollably, and her flesh melted away to reveal dark mattered chakra in the silhouette of a woman.

A simultaneous "Oh Fuck!" Was the last thing heard as the dark mattered chakra silhouette exploded engulfing everything within a five mile radius, killing the two bickering clones instantly.

**INSERT CLIFFY HERE:**


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: Hey here's chapter twelve. **

**Doomo Arigatou Gozaimasu for your review konnichiha yoshi-chan! mayalice, Midnightweasel, Emilx311, 9 T Kitsune, Crack Head Crazy, WolfAngel Kaiasa, Miss Chocolat, Leighaf, and Sakura is number 1!**

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! Just my OCC's and OCC's stuff.

**Little Recap to start this chapter off:**

"It seems that being around a barbarian, has caused me to act in such an improper manner as displaying an emotional attachment such as this." The sword mistress waved her hand signaling the shards of glass. To which Sakura just tightened her fist at being called barbaric preparing to punch the woman's lights out and show her just how barbaric she could be.

"Perhaps your sensei is more capable than I was originally inclined to believe, however this is just a miniscule amount of my true power. It has indeed been awhile since I've come across…" The women trailed off as if trying to find the right words. "A target that is actually deserving of the absolute worst death I can provide." The women finished with venom dripping from every word.

"I'm honored" Sakura Said through clench teeth and an eye roll.

"How can such filth…"

Sakura had had enough, as her chakra enhanced fist connected with the sword mistress's skull.

"Substitution?" Sakura asked smiling wickedly as the women she thought she punched became a loge that shattered into saw dust.

The women appeared right behind Sakura, Sakura spun around to see miniature senbon sized katanas flying at her, with chakra strings attached.

Sakura formed quick hands signs.

"Pulse no jutsu!"

The senbon needles came within a few inches of Sakura before hitting some type of invisible shield and bouncing back in various directions.

"Pulse no jutsu? How do you know one of master Kentan's jutsu's?" The woman asked seemingly surprised, as she danced around the redirected projectiles.

Sakura's attention went to the clone she had sent to retrieve the fallen condensed dark matter chakra ball that had returned. Not noticing her clone's paleness Sakura asked about the condensed chakra ball.

"Well where is it?" Sakura asked her clone completely turning her back on the women behind her, which seemed to tick her off even more. The sword mistress came at the back of Sakura's form with a normal sized Katana that she pulled from out of her cloak.

"Bitch can't you see I'm talking!" Sakura yelled spinning and punching the sword mistress square in the abdomen sending her flying back at such a great force her body impacted with the wall with a sickening crack and then slide down to the stairs, leaving an indent of her form in the wall.

Sakura balanced on the railing of the stairs and turned back around to face her clone after giving the twitching sword mistress a glare.

Sakura noticed for the first time the state her clone was in. The clone stood as if in pain clenching her stomach with her right arm with wobbly knees.

"Something's not right…" The clone said weakly looking at Sakura with wide red eyes.

"Damn it!" The clone fell over and puffed out of existence, immediately flooding Sakura's mind with its short lived memories.

**FLASH BACK SHIGAKURE CLONE'S POINT OF VIEW**

Clone Sakura took off in the direction that the dark matter chakra ball went falling down, after being summoned. Clone Sakura dived off the side of the stairs in a free fall looking around noticing as she got lower how empty the stairs were.

Clenching her fist as she made it to the very first floor of the large pagoda black brick building, she did a back flip and landed perfectly on her feet. There weren't any signs that the chakra ball had made impact not even an out of place stone. But where were all of the stair case travelers?

"Welcome home." A female child's voice echoed through the area.

Clone Sakura's gaze immediately went to the area of the stairs drenched in shadow.

"Whose there?" Clone Sakura asked pulling out shadow kunai.

"I'm merely a clone like yourself a message is what I have for you. Since you'll be dead soon, I should get to the point. "

"Show yourself!" Clone Sakura said throwing a dark-mattered chakra kunai into the shadows, just to here a cling signaling it hit the stone wall and not the flesh she was aiming for.

"Don't leave unstable clones in places you claim loyalty towards." The voice said.

"Wha-?" Clone Sakura began just to be hit by a wave of dizziness.

Something was wrong with her chakra, she could feel it going crazy.

"Simple genin level knowledge: the first dark-mattered chakra clone is a direct split of the original, instantly affected by whatever affects the original. You are a stable clone. The first is not. This proves that you didn't pay attention in your genin classes." The voice giggled before continuing.

Clone Sakura felt something drip from her nose to land on her hand, she brought her hand up to eye level and stared confused at the red liquid on her glove.

Her nose was bleeding.

"Your blood is pretty...such a nice red color, a lot like your sensei's hair."

Clone Sakura spun around jumping from the stair banister when she found the owner of the voice behind her.

Her features were hidden by her yellow cloak, they stood about 4 feet 1 inches tall.

The figure cocked her head to one side.

"You might have noticed Hana-chan, that the shinobi who travel up and down these stairs are missing,

its because I'm poisonous." The child said sounding as enthusiastic as a person talking about great weather. Clone Sakura watched as the yellow cloaked figure squatted and wiped some of Clone Sakura's blood from the ground, holding it out to her as if offering her something she dropped accidentally.

"You know Kage-sama would be really upset if you left this blood here. What if a genin were to slip? imouto-chan you need to set a better example for us little ones!" The child shinobi scolded trying to make her childish sugar sweet voice sound like an adult.

"Where is the condensed dark-mattered chakra ball?"Clone Sakura asked the figure, as she held her hand to her nose trying to stop the blood lost with medical chakra.

"Kentan-chama took it." The child said tilting her head to the side cutely.

"Kentan?" Clone asked, remembering how much the sword mistress kept mentioning 'Master Kentan' while she was getting her ass beat.

"No. Kentan-sama for you, I don't think he'd like it if you didn't use the right honorific. I call him Kentan-chama which is chan and sama because I can get away with it. I'm a cute and adorable ten year old, you are a big sister."

Clone Sakura sneered at the little shinobi.

"I'm Kanarii, welcome to Shigakure imouto-chan!" The girl said. "I'm glade." Kanarii whispered so low Clone Sakura barely caught it.

Before Clone Sakura could say or do anything the girl vanished in a puff of white smoke.

"Damn it!" The cloned yelled before dropping to her knees and clutching her stomach in pain.

With her last bit of energy she searched some more for the dark-mattered condensed chakra ball, and when still empty handed she made her way back to her 'original'.

**FLASH BACK SHIGAKURE CLONE'S POINT OF VIEW** **END **

Sakura fumed as the memories of her second clone finished bombarding her mind, but before her mind could focus on the present, another set of images and sounds sprung fourth. This set of memories belonged to the first dark-mattered chakra clone she created in Kohonagakure.

After watching the last of her Kohonagakure clone's memories Sakura stood wide-eyed, with her fist clenched so tight her long nails pierced her palms, causing blood to puddle on the banister. Sakura's blood red eyes momentarily began flashing from red to their natural emerald color until they settled to emerald.

CLINK

Sakura's head slowly turned to look down and she the broken and beat sword mistress conscious and healing herself with green medical chakra.

**Mini-Flashback **

"You shall be the one to die here by my hands in the name of master Kentan I will…"

**End Mini-Flashback**

The sword mistress voice full of promise and admiration flashed through Sakura's mind and her eyes lit

up a blinding red, before she spun around and jumped free falling to were the sword mistress lay on the ground.

The sword mistress's eyes looked up and landed on Sakura's face, which was smiling sadistically. The sword mistress didn't flinch, she just stared at Sakura as if she was still beneath her.

Sakura started to shake and held her head down so the sword mistress couldn't see her face.

"Do you think I'm weak?" Sakura asked in a eerily calm voice.

The sword mistress's eyes narrowed.

"I believe that your training was flawed and you lack proper skill, even if I appear defeated I am not. Defeat is when your enemies flinch away in fear of what you shall do next. I do not fear you.

Ask for your question in regards of your weakness, clay is clay it only becomes something brilliant when in the right hands to be molded as such. I do not find you weak, however what use is power if you lack skill?" The sword mistress said calmly tilting her still cloaked head up high, as if bothered by Sakura's petite frame towering over her.

Before the sword mistress could blink Sakura had grab her by the neck and pinned her against the cold black stone wall. Both hands holding the mistress in place.

The orange lantern light flickered across Sakura's blood red eyes, as she stared at the sword mistress like a rabbit beast. The dark sneer seemed out of place on Sakura's soft features as she tightened her hold.

"I'm not weak!" Sakura yelled in the face of the wide-eyed sword mistress.

"I-I didn't say y-you were." The sword mistress managed to gasp out.

"Where is he!" Sakura yelled pulling the sword mistress who if standing and not dangling would tower over Sakura in height and slamming her hard against the wall behind her.

"W-who?"

"Kentan! Where in the fuck is your master?" Sakura asked pulling on hand from the sword's mistress's neck to clutch at her own head as her chakra felt like it was increasing rapidly, causing a sudden sprout of dizziness to race through her. After closing her eyes and shaking her head Sakura looked back up at the sword mistress to now see had fear in her gray eyes.

A red aura began pouring off of Sakura's body in waves rippling and crackling like electricity in the air around her.

Sakura dropped the sword mistress who backed against the wall wide eyed.

It was strange, so much power, it was scary and delicious,satiating...consuming.

Sakura closed her eyes as a ripple of pleasure raced up her spine, then she grit her teeth as sharp pain followed behind. It repeated pleasure than pain, and with each one chakra poured fourth from some endless source inside of her and oozed out into her environment through her pours.

It wasn't enough! The hunger came back, that violent all consuming craving.

Sakura's eyes opened half hooded and fixed on the woman cowering before her, she slowly made her way to her and back-handed the sword mistress across the face.

Closing her eyes in rapture at the sickening crack and splitting flesh that filled the air.

"Haruno!"

Sakura's eyes opened again in their half hooded manner at the sound of her sensei's voice.

As if in a drunken daze she stumbled turning around.

"She thought I wasn't good enough to be here. That I didn't win because she didn't flinch out of fear of me." Sakura giggled, and turned her head to look at the headless mistress.

"Guess what sensei? She flinched!" Sakura laughed a cold heartless laugh, clutching her stomach as tears spilled from her red eyes.

When she didn't hear any sound coming from Riyou she looked up wiping her eyes.

Riyou looked behind her at the woman on the ground then his blue eyes met Sakura's. He looked at her as if pained, before his pained look became a look of concentration.

Sakura's smile fell as another rush of chakra poured through her, causing tears of both pleasure and pain to come to her eyes.

"I'm so hungry Riyou-sama." Sakura whimpered closing her eyes against the feeling.

"I know Neta...I know Haruno, I know." Riyou said walking closer.

"There's this need to, to I don't know what is it?" Sakura asked Riyou who stood directly in front of Sakura. Sakura stared up at him as if she were a child waiting for an explanation of something their young mind couldn't grasp.

Riyou said nothing, and put his arms around Sakura, and Sakura let him, still watching him through hooded emerald eyes, waiting for an answer. Her question was met with more silence as a swirl of wind and water wrapped around both their bodies, and lifted them up rapidly in the air, higher and higher up the inside of the giant stone pagoda. Then they came to an abrupt stop landing on a circular platform.

Once Sakura's feet touched the platform Riyou pulled his arms from around her and leaped backwards as if burned by the touch of her.

Sakura's red demonic eyes saddened for a brief moment before curiosity won over, causing Sakura to inspect her environment. She was in the center of a circular platform with marking and characters drawn in blood all around her forming semi-circles enclosed in large circles. Gathered around her were cloak figures in different colored cloaks.

She recognized the yellow-cloaked kid who had assaulted her clone, but no one else, then her red eyes fixed on the one who brought her to the strange platform. Riyou with his black cloak, and a large decorative scythe in his hands stood facing her as if ready to attack.

Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"You fucking trader!" Sakura yelled, as her hunger increased, churning her insides with a dark desire to consume... to consume what? She didn't know.

The cloaked figures began to chant and the circles began to glow a dim blue.

Sakura tried to run at one of the cloak figures but discovered that she couldn't move.

Riyou waved his scythe at her and a large gust of wind knocked her to her back.

Riyou walked over her struggling form, and knelt down to whisper in her ear.

"Trust me, I promised to give you power to unlock your true potential like no one else has ever tried to do for you. Not anyone. Sasuke-kun has Orochimaru, Naruto has Jiraya and Kakashi. You have me."

Riyou stood back up and took the tip of his scythe and tore Sakura shirt down the middle, leaving her bare midriff exposed.

"You're no good to anyone without control." Riyou said before he placed the circular wooden end of the scythe on her stomach, and began forming hand signs.

He lifted his scythe and thrust it hard against Sakura's abdomen causing her to scream out in pain, as a red light poured from her eyes and mouth.

Riyou repeated his action six more times, causing the light to gather at the circular wooden end. Each time the tip touched her skin it burned her flesh. Her intense red eyes turned back to their original soft green, as Sakura broke out in a sweat.

The hungry feeling began to ebb, as she looked up at Riyou and felt like she really saw him for the first time since the hunger began.

Even though the vicious cravings were gone, she remembered everything: Killing the sword mistress who was a fellow Shigakure shinobi, what happened with both of her clones, she had wiped out apart of Otogakure, fought Temari.

She would be labeled a missing-nin and a traitor in Kohonagakure, and here in Shigakure where she had killed a fellow shinobi she would be exiled or worst.

Was that why she was restrained would they kill her now?

Sakura clenched her fist at her sides, but not in fear. It was odd she couldn't find a grain of fear in her for what might be her death, after all she had died numerous times thus far. She didn't feel defeated.

No.

She was above death, above weakness, and reckoning would be hers no matter if she belonged to a village or not. No one would succeed in taking her life, death himself knew of her determination and would not take her.

Sakura knew the power she had felt inside had been sealed, but she could still feel it swirling, waiting at her fingertips to be unleashed when she was skilled enough to manipulate it.

Naruto, Kakashi, Sasuke, the whole fucking shinobi world would regret the day they forgot or took for- granted Haruno Sakura.

"Death will not have me." Sakura said eyes momentarily wide as if hit by a profound realization. "I'm not scared of dying...I don't regret killing...anyone. I'm a shinobi death is my business, and lives are my revenue." Sakura breathed out the words as her chest rose up and down rapidly and she unclenched her sweaty fists and smiled a genuine smile, her emerald eyes sparkling as they met her sensei's calm blue ones.

"You passed part of your genin exams. " Riyou whispered, a proud and affectionate look claiming his features just to give way to a calm expression again. "You could never fully belong to this village with the hangups about death that Kohonagakure ingrains into their shinobi. They mourn the dead. Kakashi-san is a prime example of that ignorance. He visits that memorial more often than you think. Mourning what he lost. He became a shinobi knowing that there would be death on all sides, yet he mourns. A true shinobi accepts that death is our ally, claiming our enemies when we desire, then knowing and being kind enough to take us when we're to foolish to give up. I believe that you and death have become well acquainted, and from the smile on your face he sees what you must do and an understanding has been met...a truce, you show death three fools that think they're immune to him, and in return your desire will be met."

"I think they need to learn how weak they really are." Sakura said her eyes downcast, as if remembering something saddening.

"They will, but first you have to complete the rest of your test."

"And that is?" Sakura asked looking up at her sensei with a bored look.

"You took the life of a Shigakure shinobi." Riyou said not meeting Sakura's eyes instead staring straight ahead to a spot she couldn't see because her body was still attached to the ground

"I thought we don't mourn the dead." Sakura said thinking back on the image of the headless bitch.

Riyou's eyes fell back onto Sakura face.

"We don't." At Sakura's half confused half irritated look Riyou smiled (which looked like a half smirk from Sakura's position) before he said "We get even."

Before Sakura could open her mouth to utter a sound, Riyou took the end of his scythe and tapped her on her forehead, instantly causing unconsciousness to claim her in its cold embrace.

When Sakura awoke it was to the feeling of cold air nipping at her skin. She sat up rubbing at her sore eyes. She immediately noticed the feeling of wet grass beneath her, causing her eyes to open and take in her new environment.

She was outside at the place were she and Riyou had entered the village. The place with a fork in the road, where one end lead to the training grounds and the other the village.

She looked around but there was no one.

Was this another test.

Then Sakura thought back on everything that happened before she passed out.

Was that whole thing a genjitsu? Were none of those images of that woman and Riyou-sama real? Inner-Sakura...the power?

But Sakura knew the answer to the latter of her thoughts as she felt her long hair grazing against her thigh.

So it had been real. She did die and come back to life only to kill the one who killed her.

She had killed a Shigakure shinobi, but did it matter? Death was part of being a shinobi, and death would not take Sakura because she refused to let it, so maybe it was the same for every Shigakure shinobi.

Then the words Riyou said before she went unconscious echoed through her mind. "We get even."

"Argh what did he mean by that!" Sakura thought irritated.

"More importantly, why don't I feel guilt?" Even though Sakura asked that to herself she knew the answer. "There's no guilt in killing when you exist to kill." How could she feel guilty when the Sword mistress was a shinobi? The bitch knew death was an option when she signed up, plus the woman deserved it.

"Still she belonged to my village." "But she killed me without a blink of the eye!" Sakura's eyebrows furrowed.

She was still alive and unchained so their weren't any repercussions for her actions.

"Why am I on the outskirts of the village?" Maybe she was being exiled. At that thought Sakura balled up her fists in anger, then stood up. "He wouldn't! Riyou-sama wouldn't dare! After giving me that fucking speech about how it was alright to do what I did!"

"Ah!" Sakura gasped in pain at the soreness of her stomach. As she slowly made it to a standing position she looked down at herself to find her shirt ripped up the middle, the rip stopping just below her chest bindings.

But what caught her attention was the seven tennis ball sized black circles on her stomach. Three were on each side of her naval lined up in a roll parallel to each other and the seventh one sat just above her navel. They looked like burnt marks, solid black circle burnt marks.

"This is how Riyou-sama sealed whatever that was that happened to me." Sakura thought to herself as she fingered the sore spots.

"Why would he seal away such beautiful power?" A deep male voice snapped Sakura out of her thoughts, causing her to look up.

It was him! That bastard that had attacked her clone with Riyou-sama's dark-mattered condensed chakra ball.

Sakura stared furious at the honey blond man before her who towered over her. His vertical jagged scar stretching from his forehead over his eye to his cheek cementing his identity in her mind.

The man who looked just as menacing in broad daylight as he looked in the moon illuminated alley stared back at Sakura with those same cruel brown eyes. He smiled a what Sakura supposed was meant to be a warm smile. "Yeah. Fucking. Right." Sakura thought in anger.

"There's hell in your eyes, however I hope you know your place and keep that fire from reaching your lips. You did receive the message I gave your clone?"

"Who are you?" Sakura growled out.

"You already know my name master Kentan." "Say it." He demanded.

"Go to hell." Sakura replied sending chakra to her fist just to be met with dizziness and severe head pain causing her to drop to her knees.

"I see I won't have to punish you, you did that for me. Even your own body knows not to defy me, if only your mind would listen." Kentan said walking closer.

Sakura did her best to ignore the pain, and got in a standing position. Even without her super strength she still knew Taijitsu.

"Where's Riyou-sama?" She asked glaring at the man before her.

"Sama?" The man replied chuckling.

"He can't take my place."

"You don't have any place with me, Riyou is my sensei, I'm not your fucking flunky and your not my master!" Sakura yelled.

The man raised his hand as if he was about to slap her, and Sakura didn't flinch just took a fighting position.

"I love the hell in your eyes, it is so fitting that you became a fire nation kunoichi in that little village...what was its name? Kohonagakure. You wouldn't fit anywhere else, but there or here."

"Stop talking as if you know me!" Sakura yelled lunging at him with a fist aimed at his jaw, he just moved to the side and avoided the blow.

"Bastard!" Sakura yelled wishing that her chakra was working so she could make unlimited dark-mattered chakra senbons and kunai. She wanted to wipe that fucking smile off his face. Then a thought struck her. If she couldn't beat his smug smile off she could talk it off.

"You know... the sword mistress when I killed her." Sakura paused for effect. "She begged for her bastard of a master Kentan like a whiny little bitch or should I say whore." Sakura stood up straight smirking, when the smile fell off the man's face to be replaced with a sneer.

"Touched a sore spot Kentan-teme?" Sakura asked watching the honey blonde man as his fist clenched and veins became visible on his forehead.

"It seems you are ignorant of the rules of this village and your position. I believe you know that we don't mourn the dead, we get even."

Sakura frowned as Kentan-teme seemed to calm down and smile condescendingly down at her.

"Chibasa belonged to me, she was my student and I her master. You killed her."

"So you're going to try to kill me?" Sakura asked sarcasm tinting her voice, as she rolled her eyes.

"No. If I killed you then someone would want to avenge you and so on and so fourth and that would open up a can of worms that the elders would rather keep close."

"In that case leave me the fuck along and stop wasting my time! Riyou-sama..." Sakura was cut off by the man across from her when he began to yell and advance on her.

"You took what belonged to me!"

Sakura stood her ground as the maniac stopped in front of her, so close she could feel the heat radiating off of his cloaked body. He was so tall that Sakura had to crane her neck up to stare defiantly into his eyes, but realized that wasn't really necessary seeing as the man leaned down so his face was inches away from hers. Kentan-teme's hot breath and saliva showered Sakura as he continued to yell. The only reason Sakura didn't back away is because she didn't want this bastard to even entertain the idea that he could frighten her.

"Until that is replaced you are mine to punish! Mine to teach discipline and to show you where your place is. When I am done you will address me as master Kentan or Kentan-sama since I'm lenient." He leaned closer. "And then we shall see who will be the whiny little bitch or should I say whore." Before Sakura could react Kentan pressed his rough lips against Sakura's unsuspecting ones, kissing her hard and rough. Just as Sakura lifted her arms to try to push him away he pulled away and wiped his lips as if they came in contact with something vile.

Sakura's wide eyes hardened as they narrowed, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach as she quickly pulled at her chakra and slapped the bastard as hard as her minimal chakra would allow across his chiseled scarred face. Once his head twisted to the side, she brought her knee up and kneed him in his groin.

Sakura would have did more if a sharp pain starting in her stomach and erupting in her spinal cord didn't force her to stop and take deep breaths.

Sakura watched panting form pain and rage as Kentan-teme slowly straightened back up and turned his head to face her after mumbling a few profanities.

"D-don't you ever." Sakura stopped to inhale deeply. "Put your fucking disgusting lips on mine again you sonofabitch, I swear to every single kami in existence that I'll kill you." Sakura growled the last part out as she brought her left hand to her lips to wipe at them before spitting on the ground. "Sama is an honorific that you'll never earn from me." After that Sakura turned her back to Kentan who was still gaining his bearings, and began to walk towards the meadow that would lead to the large cherry wood gates that she could see in the distance.

"Riyou-sensei when I find you! Argh!" Sakura growled as the pain eased and she broke out into a run through the tall grass meadow and towards the gates.

She could see the tall wooden gates and the two cloaked figures who sat atop each side of the gate on their own respective fu-lion.

This time when Sakura approached they both jumped down and dropped their hoods. Tome was the first to speak.

Sakura's rage eased as the genin looking boy smiled up widely at her.

"Wow you look different! Your hairs longer!" Tome said staring up at a slightly fuming Sakura.

"I see you're still as hyper as ever and random."

"I'm not random! Hey I see you got sealed!" Tome said eye level with Sakura's stomach as he poked at one of the burned on circles, causing Sakura to wince.

"You dumb little shit don't do that!" Gaki yelled whacking Tome upside his head.

"Wah! You old harpy, stop being so jealous just because she's not old and wrinkly like you!" Tome yelled sticking out his tongue at Gaki who grabbed it with a bare hand.

"Freaking little hell spawn!"

"Could you open the gates? I need to see Riyou-sama." Sakura asked briefly smiling at the two shinobi's antics.

Gaki immediately released Tome's tongue and they both stared at her, Tome with a cheerful expression and Gaki with a stern look on her face.

"You murdered a Shigakure shinobi...Chibasa." Gaki said eyes briefly glancing to a shocked Tome.

At Tome's look Sakura had a brief flashback.

**FLASHBACK**

It was when Sakura had first met Tome and Gaki and they had gotten off into one of their arguments.

"That was for poking her!" The Gaki women yelled.

"Mean old…. Ahhh!" Gaki hit Tome on the head again before he could finish his sentence.

"You will respect your elders! Especially me a lady of class and sophistication!" Gaki yelled.

The boy pointed at the blue haired women while holding his new formed lump with his free hand.

"You're no lady! Chibasa is the lady! Mean old…Wah!" Another hit was issued to Tome's cranium.

"I'm going to go brain dead! Wah!" Tome yelled rolling around on the ground.

Sakura just smiled at the scene.

**END FLASHBACK**

"_You're no lady! Chibasa is the lady! Mean old…Wah!_" Those words echoed through Sakura's mind as she watched the shocked expression on Tome's face, and she remembered the sword mistress's name was Chibasa.

"It couldn't be...Tome looked up to that bitch? He couldn't be one of that bastard Kentan's gakusei could he?" Sakura thought waiting to see any other reaction from Tome besides the shocked look on the young boy's face.

Tome tilted his head down and then looked back up at Sakura with a wide cheerful smile.

"You defeated Chibasa, you really are stronger than they gave you credit for!"

"You're not upset I thought..."

"You thought Chibasa was my idol?" Tome asked before cracking up in a fit of giggles and collapsing to the ground holding his sides but then pulling one hand away to point at Gaki.

"T-the old maid! Wah!" Gaki attempted to kick Tome in his side but he dodged and continued to talk through his fit of laughter. "S-she h-hates Chibasa so I pretend to like her and i-idolize her just to get on her nerves." Tome continued to laugh.

"Really? him calling the bitch Chibasa and not Chibasa-sama or Chibasa-whatever didn't clue you in, that the little shit is without respect, not that, that mistress who was a pain in my ass deserved any." Gaki said Chibasa's name as if it burned her tongue.

"Stop laughing!" Gaki yelled this time actually connecting her ninja sandal clad foot with Tome's side.

This was getting her nowhere she needed to find out who in the hell this Kentan-teme was and why he wouldn't leave her alone. So with those thoughts in my Sakura spoke.

"Whose Kentan-teme?" Sakura asked causing all eyes to turn to her again.

"Teme? I don't think that's a good idea to call him that." Tome said looking worried.

"Why?" Sakura asked confused.

Gaki looked at Sakura with her trade mark indifferent look. "Because he's Shigakure's Kage."

**Insert Cliffy Here:**


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Here's chapter 13 after a long 'Hiatus'. Sorry for the wait.**

**Disclaimer:I Do Not Own Naruto.**

**Thank you for your reviews: Shadow Quil, TheRoseandtheDagger, angel897, JadelynNB13, XxTenshixX, too lazy to log in, Uchiha miyo and konnichiha yoshi chan, and mayalice. **

This was getting her nowhere she needed to find out who in the hell this Kentan-teme was and why he wouldn't leave her alone. So with those thoughts in mind Sakura spoke.

"Who is Kentan-teme?" Sakura asked causing all eyes to turn to her again.

"Teme? I don't think that's a good idea to call him that." Tome said looking worried.

"Why?" Sakura asked confused.

Gaki looked at Sakura with her trade mark indifferent look. "Because he's Shigakure's Kage."

"Shi-Shigakure's kage?" Sakura stuttered at first in shock, her emerald eyes wide in disbelief. 'Riyou-sama why didn't he tell me?' Sakura thought still in shock, before her shock gave way to denial.

Kage were nice sweet old people with a little edge. Sometime they hid their age or had an alcohol problem like Tsunade, but they weren't blatant assholes. 'Well then explain Gaara.' A voice in the back of Sakura's head echoed.

'Gaara is an exception.' Sakura mentally fumed. 'Gaara grew up possessed by a demon, what was that fucking bastard Kentan-teme's excuse?'

"You didn't know?" Gaki's surprised voice pierced through Sakura's deep thoughts. Sakura looked from Tome to Gaki.

"That bastard can't be!" Sakura growled out angrily as she tightened her fist.

"Believe me I carry the sentiment completely, but Kentan..." Gaki paused as if the next word she was about to say put her in great pain. "Kentan...sama, is our Kage."

"No." Sakura said as if repeating the word 'No.' would make everything untrue.

"Wah! He gave us wall duty for as long as he reigns that's why the hag is bitter!" Tome shouted dramatically pointing up to the wall.

Gaki rubbed at her temples.

"He can't be Shigakure's Kage." Sakura said looking at Gaki pleadingly.

"He is... for now." Gaki said cryptically.

Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean for now? If you're planing a treacherous assassination, I want in." Sakura said her eyes determined.

"Wah! Don't talk like that!" Tome said looking around, as if expecting something dangerous to jump from behind a tall blade of grass.

"The little hell spawn has a point. Unless you want to spend the rest of your days on this wall with us?" Gaki said looking at Sakura calmly with her arms folded in front of her chest.

Sakura frowned. "Wall duty? Don't you have shifts with other shinobi who take your place once you get a mission?"

"Why do you think our clones went to help your clone and not us? We're on permanent gate duty, meaning opening and closing the gate and watching for would-be intruders is our only mission. And if you keep displeasing his royal highness." Gaki said bitterly. "We'll be sharing a cold statue."

"He can't do that!" Sakura said enraged.

"He did, and he can." Gaki calmly answered back.

"Who assigned you the mission to help my clone in Kohonagakure?" Sakura asked her eyes ablaze.

"Your sensei."

"Who undermines my power to much for my liking." Sakura spun around at the sound of the menacing deep voice, just to find Kentan-teme walking up behind her. Sakura frowned at how calm he appeared after being kicked in his privates, and then her frown deepened as she eyed him closer. The left side of his mouth was twitching as if dying to stretch into a kami awful sneer.

"You didn't get enough last time you hentai bastard." Sakura growled out. Sakura heard a loud gulp behind her and knew that it was Tome.

"You still dare to speak to me without respect even after learning my position as Kage?" Kentan said in a low voice as a manic glint passed through his brown eyes.

Sakura clenched her fist tighter, drawing blood. Her temper was getting out of hand. Sakura never disrespected people in higher positions...well before she became a Shigakure shinobi she didn't. It was just something extremely infuriating about the idea of even faking respect for the honey blond man across form her; if she didn't, what would that mean for her status as a Shigakure shinobi? The bastard was the Kage! He could order her killed for treachery, or have her exiled. If Riyou would have warned her about who the Kage of Shigakure was...

Then what? Would she have chosen not to become a Shigakure shinobi, chose not to become stronger?

Sakura knew if she had met Kentan-teme on the roof that day as a Genin and he offered her a chance to join his village and train her she would have said 'no'.

'Riyou-sama is a manipulative sweet talking bastard.' Sakura thought angrily in her head. 'Trust me Haruno, when the time comes I'll tell you everything.' Sakura tried to imitate his voice in her head.

"Leave us."

Shigakure Kage's voice brought Sakura out of her thoughts.

"I said leave us now, do not think for a second that I have forgotten about your involvement in this whole scheme!" Kentan yelled furiously at Tome and Gaki who stood behind Sakura.

Sakura grit her teeth. 'What were they doing? Trying to prove their loyalty to her? They were going to get in as much trouble as she was already in.' Sakura thought.

"Arigatou Tome-kun, Gaki-san." Sakura said calmly her voice not hinting at the anger she felt inside.

"I can handle this."

Sakura didn't turn around when she heard a whoosh of air that signaled that both Gaki and Tome had jumped back up to resume their posts.

Sakura didn't flinch as Kentan reached a hand out and roughly grabbed her jaw, staring deeply into her defiant emerald eyes, his lips finally contorting into a dark sneer.

"You think you know more about this village and what it means to be a shinobi here than I do?" Kentan said, steel in his deep voice as his nails painfully stabbed into Sakura's cheeks drawing blood.

It hurt like hell but Sakura wouldn't give him the pleasure of seeing her react to the pain.

"We shall see." Shigakure's kage said letting Sakura's jaw go. "You shall have your first mission today."

Sakura's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"If you complete it I shall consider your debt to me half way paid, if you do not... I'll exile you from this village and make sure you never serve any village outside of Shigakure. By some miracle if you find a village that will let you serve after what I do to you... that village will automatically be listed as an enemy to Shigakure, and note what I say; Making an enemy of Shigakure is unwise." Kentan said a condescending look replacing the furious look on his face.

Sakura wanted to tell him to go to hell, but if she said no, that would be directly disobeying an order to go on a mission from Shigakure's kage. Kentan-teme had no reason to be nice to her or over-look her disrespect, and saying no would mean that all she went through to become a Shigakure shinobi would have been for nothing. She would leave this village without ever seeing Riyou-sensei again. And she desperately wanted to see him again, so she could kick his secretive ass up all the floors of the Kage tower!

Sakura wanted to sneer up at him while accepting the mission, but figured that she could put some of her outward displayed hatred aside.

"Hai. What does the mission require me to do?" Sakura asked reigning in the disgust on her face, with a frown.

"Hai? Hai what?" Kentan asked a vicious smile breaking loose across his scarred features.

Sakura grit her teeth once she realized what the bastard wanted. 'He will not get a 'sama' from me!' Sakura fumed mentally.

"Hai Shigakure Kage." Sakura said knowing her hate poured through her eyes.

"You'll be the whiny bitch soon enough." Kentan said staring Sakura directly in her eyes, as if trying to taunt her and break her composure.

"My mission is?" Sakura said through clenched teeth.

Kentan stared hard at her for a few more seconds before speaking.

"This mission involves two villages, one of them being Kohonagakure."

Sakura frowned.

"Someone has been sticking their nose where it will be cut off." Kentan said, the sneer reappearing on his face.

'Was Tsunade-sensei trying to gather information on Shigakure? No. How could she, when she has no idea about it.' Sakura thought her eyebrows furrowing.

"Kohonagakure ANBU Roots division has been assigned a mission to steal a Shigakure possession from Sunagakure."

"ANBU Roots?" Sakura asked confusion causing her to momentarily forget her anger.

"That section of ANBU is not ruled by your Kage, instead a renegade in the favor of Kohonagakure's elders rules it. I am not surprised you have no knowledge of it's existence; Roots is a very secret division."

"It couldn't be too secretive." Sakura unknowingly said out loud, and when she realized what she did she looked back at Kentan-teme, who was sadistically smiling again.

"You will go to Sunagakure before Roots and take what belongs here." Kentan said.

"What will I be taking?"

"You fought alongside Lady Chiyo?" Kentan asked Sakura who wondered why he wouldn't get to the damn point already.

"Hai..." Sakura saw the displeased look On Kentan-teme's face and mentally rolled her eyes. "Hai Shigakure Kage."

"Lady Chiyo belonged to our village, and in her possession was a stroll that contained some of Shigakure's forbidden jutsu, such as the jutsu used to raise the deceased Kazekage from the dead. Those secrets belong to this village alone."

"A scroll..." Sakura said thinking back to the jutsu Riyou used to revive her. Kentan-teme didn't seem like the type of Kage to let a Shigakure shinobi take something that important out of the village to use in another village.

"Why? Why did she have it?" Sakura asked confused.

" Lady Chiyo possessed a great thirst for knowledge, and since she was trustworthy and well liked she was allowed by a Kage before me to take the scroll. I never demanded it back after that Kage's reign, because of Lady Chiyo's known loyalty to this village. Lady Chiyo also ran numerous experiments in her youth that brought great knowledge and forbidden jutsu to Shigakure. Since lady Chiyo died, that scroll is without a guardian, and I doubt that she destroyed something seen as so valuable. So you shall go to Sunagakure, search through her possessions for clues on where the scroll may be. Do not return without it...and do not ask how the scroll looks. If you are truly worthy of this village you shall know it when your sight lands upon it."

Kentan looked up at the gate and the two figures sitting there.

"Those two also do not know where their loyalty should lie, they still refuse to accept me as their true Kage. One is simply too stupid, and the other is immune to torture, or maybe my torture methods are too lenient."

Sakura's eyes narrowed at the mention of torture. 'That fucking bastard tortures his shinobi!' Sakura thought as her fist tightened.

Kentan looked down back at Sakura and then turned his back to her, and began walking away back towards Shigakure's entrance.

Sakura spun around when she heard one of the gate guards jump down.

"That's rude silent bastard speak for 'come follow me'" Gaki said pointing with her thumb to the walking form of Kentan.

"I figured." Sakura said rolling her eyes. "Will he torture you and Tome-kun?" Sakura asked concern glinting in her eyes.

Gaki shrugged before covering her mouth to mask a yarn. "Tome-kun eh? The little brat wormed his way into your heart already?You'll regret that soon." Gaki said a look of annoyance gracing her features, before she continued. "No one in this village is scared of dying...not having that fear takes the edge off of torture, and having a village filled with medical shinobi helps too. Though too bad you won't be here to see it. Torturing me physically is more annoying to our Kage than it is to me." Gaki said as her lips pointed upwards in a small smile, and her eyes took on a far away look as if remembering something pleasant.

SWOOSH.

Tome Jumped down and landed right beside Gaki.

"Wah! why are you talking with Wrinkle-san for? Go! you have a mission." Tome said putting his hands on Sakura's sore stomach and pushing her, and again Sakura winced a little.

"You dumb little shit! Will you never learn?" Gaki yelled roundhouse kicking Tome in his stomach.

"Wah child abuse!"

"As if you can call yourself a child, you demon spawn!"

"Prune-chan!"

"I'll show you prune!"

Sakura smiled before silently turning from the two bickering shinobi and walking as slowly as she could to find the now out of sight asshole.

"_Arigatou Tome-kun, Gaki-san." _

"_I can handle this."_

As Sakura walked she couldn't help but wonder why she was warming up to the two gate guardians.

'Do I really want to create more bonds to just have those people turn their backs on me? Or call me weak? But Gaki, Tome, and Riyou-sama are different...'

"_Trust me, I promised to give you power to unlock your true potential like no one else has ever tried to do for you. Not anyone. Sasuke-kun has Orochimaru, Naruto has Jiraya and Kakashi. You have me." _

"_I do not find you weak, however what use is power if you lack skill?"_

"_You defeated Chibasa, you really are stronger than they gave you credit for!"_

'They see my power, my potential and don't ignore me, or push me to the background.'

"_We figured if the seal didn't hold up and you wanted to go on a killing spree why not here?" Gaki's words flew through Sakura's mind. _

'No one in Kohonagakure would even phantom the idea that I could be destructive enough to kill countless shinobi...No, because Sakura is a weak Kunoichi whose abilities are nothing compared to Sasuke-kun and Naruto.' A sneer appeared on Sakura's lips at the thought of her two teammates. How easy it was for them to find people who could see their power, while she had no one! Sakura had to beg to be Tsunade's apprentice. 'There was never any begging with Sasuke and Naruto, everyone just flocked to them!'

Sakura could fill the beginnings of a sharp pulsing pain in her stomach, but ignored it, as her anger increased.

'And when everyone found what they thought was a weakness they were quick to point it out.'

"_Sakura-chan I think you should go see Tsunade-Baa-chan."_

"_Fore-head he's right." _

She would show them all. They would pay. Everyone!

Sakura dropped down on her knees as she held her throbbing head.

They would pay!

The pulsing pain in her stomach was slowly becoming sharp quick jabs.

Something tightly grabbed the front of her shirt and hauled her to her feet.

"Control! You will never belong here unless you have control!" A deep voice maliciously growled into Sakura's ear. "That delicious power needs to be ruled, if you cannot rule it then someone else will!" The owner of the voice roughly shook Sakura causing her unfocused vision to slowly focus again.

Just as things around her began to take normal shape, who ever had grabbed her threw her, and she landed roughly on her back, staring up at the gray cloudy sky.

"Uh." Sakura groaned, and tensed as she heard foot steps.

"Weakness disgusts me!"

At the loud familiar yell Sakura looked up through momentary dizziness to see Kentan standing over her sneering down with a look of disgust on his scarred face.

"You lack discipline, and a lack of discipline can mascaraed as weakness! You talk so highly, you loath being called weak but here you are being controlled by something you don't understand. I can make a whore out of you, use your power for myself...how could you stop me in this state." Kentan said disgust on his face as he watched Sakura on the ground. "Know this whore...If you lose control again inside my village I will not hesitate to make you fear death again." Kentan sneered down at her.

Sakura's eyes widened.

'I lost control but I...' Sakura couldn't remember losing control, all she could remember was anger... deep rage. She had gotten lost in her thoughts, and then there was pain, so much pain.

"Get up!" Kenyan's deep voice boomed.

Sakura covered her ears from the noise. It felt like the bastard was screaming directly into her ear.

"Get up!"

Sakura could feel bile rising in her mouth.

"You insolent whore!" Kentan yelled as he roughly grabbed Sakura's hair and pulled her to a sitting position, then yanked her up to stand.

The fast movement and abrupt jerking of Sakura's head was too much for her and as Kentan roughly grabbed her upper arm to keep her standing vomit rushed forth from Sakura's mouth straight onto the Kage's cloak.

Kentan released Sakura's hair and arm causing her to began falling backwards. Sakura thought she'd hit the cold ground, but her back collided against something warm and firm.

Sakura tried to gain her barrings but the odd dizziness that set in wasn't letting up anytime soon. In her disorientation she briefly noticed the sensation and sound of condensed air and water wrapping around her, along with the warmth of two strong arms.

"Hand her to me!" The sound of Kentan's enraged voice made it to Sakura's ears through the wind and water. "I am Kage, know your place!"

"Not for long." A voice behind Sakura whispered out.

That voice Sakura recognized.

"Riyou-sama." The words left her mouth in a sigh as the tenseness left her body, and the dizziness began to ebb.

"Do not disobey me you shall regret it."

"I'm taking her on her mission. Kage-san." Riyou said his voice filled with that cold calmness that he developed when he brought Sakura to Shigakure another time. "The elders would not approve of your treatment of her and you know it." Riyou said again his arms tightening around Sakura.

"I'm leaving now, with her." Riyou said as he pulled one arm from around Sakura and held out his scythe.

"I've killed, I've sinned Kioku no Hitogoroshi allow me in."

Sakura nose wrinkled as the smell of rotten flesh filled the air.

"I control who can leave this village boy." Kentan said, and Sakura could see the smug smile on his face through the water and wind.

'The Kioku no Hitogoroshi! Riyou's trying to leave.' Sakura thought.

Sakura tilted her head up to try to see her sensei's eyes just to have the long hood of his black cloak obstruct her view.

Sakura looked down at Riyou's arm around her and put her hands there.

"Stop." Sakura said as calmly as she could with her eyes downcast. "I lost control and I didn't realize it. I could have hurt or killed a Shigakure civilian or shinobi. Riyou-sensei, the bastard...he's right, he's my kage now. Other shinobi... If they get in my way I don't care about killing them, the sword mistress was one thing..."

"Haruno-" Riyou tried to stop her.

"No!" Sakura yelled. "Don't placate me! I came here to be stronger I don't want to run away, I'm a shinobi goddammit treat me like one! Don't be like them Riyou-sama, let me go, before I make you!"

Sakura said staring up at Riyou with a defiant look in her eyes. "That sword mistress was one thing but what if its you next time?" Sakura yelled.

"If that's what you want." Riyou said his voice soft as he released Sakura and the wind and water swirling around them disappeared.

"All my hatred and rage is for three people and no one in Shigakure is one of them." Sakura whispered knowing that Riyou heard her as he put his hand on her shoulder to steady her.

Sakura looked at Kentan again, just to find him staring at her with an odd look on his face, it was a strange cross between satisfaction and recognition.

"Well, well looks like you can be taught." Kentan said looking at Sakura pleased.

"I'm not doing this for you, all I care about is becoming stronger and if that means that I have to tolerate you and your fucking mouth so be it." Sakura said glaring hatefully at the brown-eyed man across from her.

"Haruno!" Riyou's voice rung out in rage.

Sakura shocked at her sensei's tone turned around to face him. "He's your Kage Haruno, you are a Shigakure shinobi, you can't..."

"No. No. Do not ruin this for me, like sensei like gakusei. Continue your disrespect, I am no longer willing to suggest otherwise."

Sakura didn't turn to look at Kentan instead she focused on Riyou who had dropped his hood.

"Didn't you just try to ignore his orders?" Sakura asked confusion warring with irritation.

"You can't say those things... not here Haruno, the consequences." Riyou said rage giving way to calmness as his blue eyes pierced into Sakura's green ones as if silently trying to get her to understand.

Sakura turned her back to Riyou not wanting him to see the look of disgust on her face. 'Coward.'

"I'm ready to go." Sakura said fully ignoring Riyou as she walked up to Kentan.

Kentan's eyes flickered to look behind Sakura his lips upturning in a smug smile, as Riyou's chakra flared.

Sakura could feel goosebumps crawling up her arms as her sensei's angry chakra began to consume the area. Sakura didn't look back, she looked ahead scowling darkly at her Kage Kentan-teme.

Kentan towered over Sakura.

"As much as your new found obedience pleases me, the punishments you could earn for disrespect excite me more. So if you wish to turn around to your sensei and play games please do." Kentan said the smug look still on his face as Sakura silently scowled up at him with her fist clenched at her sides.

When he realized Sakura wasn't going to turn around Kentan turned his back to her. "Follow."

Sakura wanted to tear the smug bastard's face off, but settled for walking behind him, imagining tearing his face off.

"You will be escorted through the Kioku no Hitogoroshi to begin your mission. If you complete your mission I will find you and show you the remaining requirements for your return." Kentan said as if talking to a child.

"Remaining requirements? I thought-" Sakura began to be cut off.

"Don't think, it does not suit you." Kentan said condescendingly.

"Fuc-" Sakura caught herself before her anger got the best of her.

Kentan smirked.

"You want to go through the Kioku no Hitogoroshi unarmed by yourself whore? Fail and have all of your suffering have been for naught?"

Sakura opened her mouth again and balled her fist. If he called her whore one more time Kage or not she would bury him.

Sakura frowned as Kentan turned around as if sensing someone.

POOF!

A yellow-cloaked figure appeared wrapped in vanishing white smoke.

"Imouto-chan!" The child yelled happily in a sweet voice.

'That cloak!' Sakura thought staring at the yellow-cloaked child, she knew her. It was the girl from the Genin exams.

FLASH BACK (CH12)

Clone Sakura asked the figure, as she held her hand to "Where is the condensed dark-mattered chakra ball?"her nose trying to stop the blood lost with medical chakra.

"Kentan-chama took it." The child said tilting her head to the side cutely.

"Kentan?" Clone asked, remembering how much the sword mistress kept mentioning 'Master Kentan' while she was getting her ass beat.

"No. Kentan-sama for you, I don't think he'd like it if you didn't use the right honorific. I call him Kentan-chama which is chan and sama because I can get away with it. I'm a cute and adorable ten year old, you are a big sister."

Clone Sakura sneered at the little shinobi.

"I'm Kanarii, welcome to Shigakure imouto-chan!" The girl said. "I'm glade." Kanarii whispered so low Clone Sakura barely caught it.

Before Clone Sakura could say or do anything the girl vanished in a puff of white smoke.

END FLASH BACK

"Escort her through the Kioku no Higoroshi so she can begin her mission."

"Kohonagakure isn't safe for Imouto-chan, she made a mess, and got labeled as a missing-nin." Kanarii said tilting her cloaked head up to Kentan. What I found is in this report." Kanarii said pulling a scroll from out of her cloak and handing it to Kentan, who performed hand signs before opening it.

Sakura was still in momentary shock at hearing that she had been labeled a missing-nin. All she could do was replay the images of her clone destroying Tsunade-sensei's office and fighting Temari-san in her mind.

'Shit!' Sakura thought mentally.

"As you can see Imouto-chan made a very big mess, I'm to little to clean it, will you help me clean your mess Imouto-chan?" Kanarii asked walking over to Sakura, and tilting her head up.

Sakura looked down at the little shinobi not really seeing her, as her mouth began to move.

"A-A mess?"

"Are you in shock Imouto-chan? I'm not, your a very messy person, and a bad sister to leave that mess lying around for me to find." Kanarii's cute voice sounded odd to Sakura's ears as the girl scolded her.

"This changes things." Kentan said his surprisingly upbeat mood and tone breaking Sakura from her thoughts.

Kentan turned around to face Sakura fully, a smirk on his face.

"You have jeopardized your place in Kohonagakure, if you showed yourself now without injuries and a seal on your stomach no doubt your kage would have questions." Kentan said.

Sakura tightened her fists not liking the...what could she call that look on that bastards face...happiness? Yes the kind of happy a psychotic nutcase displays after licking the blood off of their decapitated enemies.

"Leave us Kanarii, your assistance won't be necessary." Kentan said side glancing at the child.

"Imouto-chan, things don't look good for you, Kentan-chama doesn't like bad shinobi." Kanarii said before pouffing away in a cloud of white smoke.

Kentan's lips took on a slight frown at Kanarii's words and Sakura wondered if the name Kentan-chama pissed him off.

"My little whore looks like you've managed to please me sooner than I thought." Kentan said his lips morphing into a warped devious smile.

"Fuck you."

Sakura tried to send chakra to her fist to punch Kentan for calling her a whore, just to have her stomach painfully cramp in retaliation.

Sakura doubled over in pain clutching her stomach.

"You don't like being called whore? Or is it you don't like being my whore?" Kentan asked roughly grabbing Sakura's wrist.

Sakura jerked forward her body falling against Kentan's hard frame. Kentan grabbed Sakura's jaw bending low to whisper in her ear.

"You've given me two things I've always wanted in such a short time; however your behavior means I can't reward you, instead you must be punished-"

It was only so far...the amount of shit Sakura could take from her own Kage before her temper exploded and what could have been considered as her form of pleasantries towards the bastard disintegrated into dust.

Why was she even putting up with his shit to begin with? If anyone else called her a whore even once they'd be a bloody spot in the pavement. He was her Kage, he would help her become stronger...but he would respect her in the process!

So with those thoughts in mind Sakura opened her mouth wide and bit down hard.

As the satisfying sound of Kentan's skin breaking met Sakura's newly sensitive ears, she didn't know rather to be overjoyed at causing him pain or disgusted at the taste of his blood flowing into her mouth.

"You insolent bitch!" Kentan yelled grabbing Sakura by her pink locks and pulling hard, causing Sakura to release her mouth's death grip on his hand.

Sakura smirked up at Kentan her eyes becoming a light shade of red.

"What's wrong Kentan-chama don't like pain?" Sakura asked before spitting out the blood that had leaked into her mouth, wanting to rid herself of his spicy taste.

Sakura expected to be backhanded after using the name that he obviously didn't like but she wasn't prepared for what he did next.

"Kioku no Hitogoroshi this one is fresh this one is clean, even with the blood she has spilled and seen, open your mouth a house of death, devour her whole to cleanse your palate, if her taste does not please... if lessons can't sate the need, break her and never set her free." Kentan chanted.

Sakura's eyes widened as a giant snarling mouth appeared before them.

"I can call the Kioku no Hitogoroshi up at will, you may have pleased me greatly today you insolent bitch however..." Kentan growled throwing Sakura to the ground in front of the mouth.

"I am the Kage, you are beneath me, you've yet to learn your place...but you will and I will be greatly entertained along the way. Devour her!" Kentan yelled his eyes crazed.

Before Sakura could even flinch into a physical reaction the mouth opened, and a purple tongue wrapped around her pulling her in.

"She's not ready!" What sounded like Riyou's panicked voice met Sakura's ears before the mouth closed and devoured her.

Sakura floated in the air her body supported by what felt like invisible strings wrapped around her limbs. The scent of rotten burned flesh rushed Sakura's senses as the darkness that surrounded her dispersed.

Sakura could feel her heart pounding rapidly at the sight before her.

Thousands of disembodied limbs squirming and flailing in a bloody sea of terror. Mouths of severed heads opened in silent screams.

Sakura's body tensed in horror as she realized that she was inside the Kioku no Hitogoroshi...again, without Riyou-sensei.

Panic began to set in as the invisible strings began to snap and the limbs of the sea below began to reach for her, the bloody seas churning violently.

As the last string wrapped around Sakura's left arm snapped and she began falling towards the awaiting limbs she wanted to close her eyes, half in fear and half in desperation. Her chakra was sealed off, she was weaponless, their was nothing to hold onto or jump onto. She would fall, she would become just another body ripped to pieces screaming silent screams for all eternity.

Sakura was falling but she couldn't close her eyes, she stared at the bloody sea...she wasn't scared of dying because death wasn't an obstacle, she was scared...of pain, of eternity...living forever in this place. Death wasn't an obstacle but pain, that was real. If she fell the pain of being ripped apart, clawed at mercilessly until her flesh was completely peeled from her body, that was real. The deafening screams, they were real.

This was hell... the mouth of hell.

"_Sate me!"_

"_Sate me!"_

Voices began to rang out from the bloody sea below.

"_Sate me!"_

Just as Sakura's body hit the sea of mangled mutilated bodies she yelled out, eyes wide and arms shielding her face.

"Sate you how!"

Sakura screamed as the sensation of being thrown into a ocean of ice water flooded her senses. Sakura tried to close her eyes against the pain but they wouldn't close, so she just stared at the red bright light that seemed to have engulfed her form.

Why wasn't she being pulled apart?

"_She wishes."_

"_She wishes to sate..."_

"_To sate me."_

The somber voices seemed to become filled with a sick joy, as they spoke with quiet excitement.

"_Hunger."_

"_Feed me."_

"_Sate me."_

Sakura could feel the marking on her stomach began to burn.

The voices chimed as Sakura's pain disappeared and she opened her mouth.

"Who are you, what do you want?" Sakura asked her fear replaced with confusion, and irritation.

"_Power."_

"_Promise."_

"Power?"Sakura asked. 'They want chakra.' Sakura thought to herself.

"_Yes!"_ The voices yelled.

"If I give you chakra what do I get in return?"

"_Return?"_

"_Always..."_

"_They always ask."_

"_What do you desire?"_

"Release me to the other side of this tunnel!"Sakura yelled out to the voices her face serious.

"_This tunnel has many sides."_

"_Many sides...the Master has chosen."_

"The Master? Whose the Master?"

Sakura watched tense as a giant hand made of dark mattered chakra reached out to her, turning her so she floated on her back.

"_This."_

"_This"_

"_This is power."_ The voices chimed as a equally giant index finger stroked across the markings on Sakura's stomach.

"_The Master grows impatient, he has chosen."_ The voices chimed again.

"_This power, mine!"_

Sakura felt a intense pain in her stomach as if she were stabbed.

"_This will do...until you return."_

Sakura's whole body went numb as the bright light around her began to dim to complete darkness. Finally able to close her eyes Sakura closed then as she felt her body being pulled forward as if in a Vacuum, before her body impacted against something.

"Humnp!" A muffled voice yelled.

Sakura groaned rolling off of what she could tell was a living body from the way it wiggled beneath her.

Sakura took a large intake of air as if she had been drowing and managed to just reach the surface. She couldn't see anything, her eyes were blinded by a bright white light, but she could feel pain.

"Fuck." Sakura whispered as she felt the deep stab wound in her stomach and the blood that poured out of it. Out of reflexes Sakura tried to send healing chakra to her hand to heal her stomach, and was relieved at the warm feeling of her chakra and the sensation of her flesh mending itself.

"Okaa-san! There's a demon!"

Sakura opened her eyes after closing them against the light.

The sun shone brightly through the leaves of surrounding trees.

Seeing something normal in what felt like years brought a smile to Sakura's face. She didn't know how she made it through the Kioku no Hitogoroshi without joining the ocean of flesh, but she was contented by the warm breeze that blew across her cold skin.

"Kentan-teme when I return there will be hell to pay." Sakura promised outloud before propping herself up into a sitting position and resting her back against the bark of a tree.

Sakura lifted the bloody material of her ruined shirt to find stare at her seal.

"Nani?" Sakura looked at her seal to find that one of the black dots was now a bright red, and not from her blood it seemed to be glowing.

"Ah."

Sakura's head jerked up after hearing a gasp.

There was a short dark- haired woman wearing an apron with a shovel in her hand, standing behind the woman clutching her dress was a small dark-haired child with fearful brown eyes.

"Look Okaa-san her eyes they're glowing red!"

The young boy yelled.

Sakura stared back calmly at the woman and child, she wasn't sure if she should growl at them to see if they'd run or try to reassure the shaking woman that she meant them no harm.

"Aito run go get help!" The woman shouted weakly as she held her shovel towards Sakura.

Sakura's red eyes followed the boy as he ran.

"D-Don't you think about harming my s-son." The woman said trying to sound brave as she watched Sakura watch her son run off.

Sakura wondered where she was, and who the boy would bring back, but she didn't have to worry for long.

Sakura watched confused as the woman's eyes widened in recognition.

"That headband!" The woman yelled putting her shovel down in what seemed like relief.

"You're a shinobi. Kami." The woman said relieved as she rested her hand on her chest.

"You have to forgive my son, we've been on the road for awhile since we're traveling merchants and all, he hasn't had the chance to be around a lot of shinobi and see their odd physical colorings. He hasn't been back here since he was born, but I'm sure he'll get use to seeing shinobi soon enough."

Sakura looked again at the place she was in, and wanted to smack herself for not recognizing the place she grew up in sooner.

She was back in Kohonagakure, and the woman in front of her was a civilian that most likely sent her civilian child to get a shinobi for help.

Sakura stood up on wobbly legs, pressing her back against the tree behind her to steady herself.

'So this is what that bastard Kage meant by entertainment. He sent me straight into the village that labeled me a missing-nin, to be questioned and locked away.' Sakura thought feeling anger boil up inside her.

"My son didn't mean any offense by calling you a demon, its just glowing red eyes, and pink hair..."

Sakura tuned the woman's rambling out as she put her hand to her forehead.

Her eyes had turned red again!

Sakura wondered what Tsunade-sensei would think of her appearance.

Her clothes were tattered rags, her hair was mid back length, and she had glowing red eyes and longer than usual nails.

Sakura considered running and going to Sunagakure to complete her mission. Did she even need to be a Kohonagakure shinobi anymore? Could she learn more from Tsunade?

One thing was sure Sakura didn't have time for questions and Tsunade would ask questions. She needed to gather her thoughts, and be prepared for whatever Tsunade, or anyone else to ask. Sakura had a mission to complete, and a bastard of a Kage to show the meaning of power and obedience.

Sakura closed her eyes and concentrated, hoping that her chakra would allow her to do what she wanted.

Sakura formed quick hand signs and focused on where she wanted to go as she was wrapped in dark-mattered chakra filled with red spots.

Just as the pounding of foot steps reached Sakura ears she was gone, reappearing on a large tree branch at another point in Kohonagakure's massive forest.

Sakura felt dizzy from the use of chakra but knew that she had to make it out of the Fire country and to the Wind country, so she kept forming hand signals and teleported as far as her dark-mattered chakra would allow, before she was sweating perfusly.

Sakura fell from another tree she had teleported to and landed on her knees. Ignoring the pain Sakura got back up and began to walk soon developing into a full out run. She was at the edge of Kohona's forest and close to where green earth met golden sand.

The red of Sakura's eyes intensified and the markings on her stomach began to burn, as she formed the hand signs for teleportation again and used as much of her available chakra to teleport again.

"uuhhh." Sakura groaned as her body impacted with sand.

Sand.

Sakura flipped over to lay on her back wiping the sand from her face as she stared around her.

She had made it, to the sea of sand that was the Wind country. She was tired, her knees felt fractured but Sakura didn't care she had to make it to Sunagakure and find that damn scroll before Roots did.

"I will not be stopped!" Sakura screamed, her voice sounding inhuman as she stood and tugged at her chakra, demanding that it obey its mistress. Sakura could feel the sharpness of her canines as she bit her lip, and a strong wind picked up around her as her chakra flared.

The wind stopped as Sakura became covered in dark-mattered chakra that had gotten even more red spots in it.

Sakura smirked and as she began to walk forward pieces of sand beneath her feet turned into glass.

If anyone would have watched the back of Sakura going forward into the distance they would have noticed that her chakra wrapped around her and took the shape of a transparent cloak.

"Payback is going to be a bitch Kentan-teme."


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's****Note:****It****has****been****a****while...along****while.****I****really****have****to****try****to****update****more****often****-_-****.**

**Here's****chapter****14:**

**Disclaimer:I****Do****Not****Own****Naruto.**

**Arigatou-gozaimasu****for****reading****and****reviewing!:**

**Namikaze****Soul,****x0x0-DarkRadiance-x0x0,****pacchiri****cherii,****konnichiha****yoshi-chan,****angel897,****and****aimiera.**

Sakura finally made it to Sunagakure with a smirk gracing her features still, as she looked up at her goal and the shinobi that guarded it.

"State your business." A light brown-haired shinobi said approaching Sakura, but faltering his approach after fully seeing Sakura's form.

"I know you!Y-You're her. The Kunoichi that healed Kankuro-sama...the missing-nin."

Sakura's smirk grew as her lids half-hooded her eyes. "No shit." Sakura said focusing on her destination before using hand signs and teleporting away.

Sakura reappeared on the balcony of one of Sunagakure's many dome shaped buildings. She turned around lazily and froze looking inside the room that the balcony lead to.

She hadn't just reappeared at any building, but the Kage's building. Peering inside Sakura's eyes locked onto Temari who was having a heated argument with Kankuro.

Sakura leaned against one of the beams supporting the roof that shaded the balcony and decided to listen to the siblings little verbal spar.

"Gaara is out for blood after finding out what that pink-haired medic did to you in Kohonagakure! Why aren't you talking some sense into him? You're the sensible one out of all of us. She saved my life, I think we owe her the chance to explain!"

"You didn't fight her! Somethings wrong with her, that's not the same medic that healed you, she has changed!" Temari yelled pacing back and forth.

"So you're siding with Gaara! Gaara had changed, after meeting that Kid Naruto, now he's developed this obsession. You didn't see that look in his eyes when I told him what happened in Kohona. He looked like he did back then Temari. We can't let him become that again. Talk to him, tell him that you were wrong, that Haruno doesn't need to be captured and punished she needs help!" Kankuro yelled back, pulling off his hood as he put a hand on Temari's shoulder.

Temari stopped pacing and looked at Kankuro, anger present on her pretty features.

'Wow my absence has ruined little Gaara's peaceful home.' Sakura thought smiling. There was something oddly fun about the prospect of pissing off the Kazekage but she couldn't explain why.

"We don't even know if she's alive...after you described what happened, all that blood. Whoever took her they deserve the wrath of Sunagakure and Kohonagakure. Haruno saved my life, and I'll never forget a favor like that. If she is alive...I have to side against you and Gaara on this one sis." Kankuro said softly locking eyes with his sister before turning and leaving out the door.

Kankuro's declaration made Sakura's half-hooded eyes widen slightly.

"Argh! You idiot." Temari yelled.

The door opened again and Sakura expected Kankuro to walk back in, but she was surprised again when Gaara came in instead looking around the room as if searching for something.

Sakura watched as Gaara's eyes fell on Temari, he stared.

"Gaara... I-." Temari started.

Gaara gave Temari a nod.

"Kankuro and I have been talking."

Sakura noticed that Gaara seemed impatient as he looked around the room, and apparently Temari noticed too as her eyes narrowed in worry.

"What's wrong?" Temari asked walking closer to Gaara.

Sakura hid behind the beam that she had been leaning against as Gaara's head jerked in her direction.

"Nothing. Leave." Gaara's voice may have came across as calm to anyone else, but Sakura could hear the underlining menace that lurked just beneath the surface of every syllable.

"I wanted to talk to you about something." Temari's voice seemed hesitant.

Hearing Temari's hesitant voice Sakura wondered if Gaara possessed violent tendencies that the outside shinobi world didn't get to hear about.

"I heard you talking with Kankuro." Gaara's deep voice said. "I'm not changing my mind. Leave...please."

Sakura's brows furrowed in confusion at the pleading tone that Gaara's voice had taken, and the fact that he used the word please almost shocked her enough to come from behind her hiding place.

It was quiet for awhile, until the sound of the room's door opening and closing broke the silence.

Sakura came from behind the beam, her curiosity being to much to bare and looked inside the room to see Gaara standing in the center clutching his head, his sand circling around him like a deadly viper waiting to strike before dropping down to rest at his feet.

The air developed a heaviness, as the promise of wild rage radiated from the Kazekage.

Sakura licked her dry lips, the anticipation of Gaara's raw power exciting her. In Sakura's tired state she didn't attempt to make sense of why the promise of violence from the Kazekage felt like a promise of water for her parched mouth, or shade from the harsh Sunagakure sun. Gaara wanted to hurt her, and she wanted to see if he could, test the limits of her power on what was once a feared shinobi.

'So Gaara wants to punish me? That would be fun too see.' Sakura thought stepping forward a feeling of dizziness overwhelming her tired body, causing Sakura's usually quiet feet to drag against the ground.

Hearing the sound of footsteps Gaara's head snapped in Sakura's direction, and wide teal eyes locked with half-hooded Emerald ones.

Sakura watched, her vision blurring as Gaara's eyes took in her ragged appearance. He seemed shocked but it didn't take long for his sand to lift from the floor, and his body to turn and fully face Sakura.

Sakura gave Gaara a lazy smirk.

"I've always wondered what it would be like to fight you." Sakura said lifting her fist attempting to run to attack Gaara but only managing a slow walk.

"I-" Sakura trailed off as she lost her balance and fell forward. She braced herself for impact with hard rock flooring, not expecting to have her fall broken by Gaara's sand. It felt like lead replaced the blood running through her veins as Sakura tried to move. She halfheartedly called her chakra to her fist just to have the chakra that wrapped around her vanish completely, and the burning of the seals on her stomach cease.

Sakura watched tiredly as the sand that saved her from her kiss with the floor, began to encase her in a shell. She briefly wondered if Gaara would close his fist and kill her, giving into that dark desire that she could feel softly caressing the inside of his flesh.

Sakura wanted to open up her mouth and ask him through the tomb of sand, if he was waiting for her to beg for mercy, because it wouldn't happen. After two attempts at moving her cracked lips, Sakura mentally sighed and decided that her remaining breaths weren't worth wasting on the redhead.

Minutes went by before Sakura felt herself moving and heard the door open and close. She didn't know where the Kazekage was taking her and she could give a damn as the sand shell around her offered her sunburned skin, and eyes respite for the unrelenting Sunagakure Sun.

"K-Kazekage-sama." A nervous male voice sounded through the shell around Sakura.

"Hm?"

"Missing-nin Haruno Sakura is she in there?"

"Hai." Gaara's calm voice replied.

"What would you like us to do with her Kazekage-sama ?"

"You will do nothing, Kohonagakure had their chance to take care what could be a problem to both themselves and Sunagakure, now I will deal with it."

"But Kazekage-sama, the boy-"

"Naruto? I'm repaying him for saving me on more than one occasion, by saving him. There are secrets beneath our noses that we are unaware of. The last time we were unaware of something Sunagakure was put at risk, and I refuse to let that happen again. Taruonaka-san?"

"Yes K-Kazekage-sama?"

"Word of finding this missing-nin is not to leave this village. If anyone attempts to send word of her , I want it intercepted and stopped."

"The elders Kazekage-sama?"

"Will be dealt with. Dismissed."

'So the Kazekage has another face.' Sakura thought as her exhausted body began to slowly throb with pain, her overexerted muscles finally aching. Sakura's stomach gave a loud growl, as her body suddenly became racked with hunger pains and drowsiness.

Sakura couldn't remember the last time food or water came within thirty centimeters of her lips, or a soft bed beneath her. As a medic-nin the extreme lack of sleep, food, and water should have been disconcerting, but Sakura's tired mind could barely put the pieces together. The desire to fight Gaara was warring with the desire for sleep as Sakura's half-hooded eyes closed fully.

'I'm falling asleep.' Sakura thought, as she felt herself moving again.

Sleep had won out over Gaara, as Sakura's body fell into a Coma like state.

It was odd being able to hear all the sounds and voices around you, but not being able to move, or speak, or give any sign of life other than a heartbeat, and the slow rise and fall of a chest.

The blood-lust had left Sakura...about, well after she awoke, and how long ago that was she wasn't sure. Sakura couldn't open her eyes to look at a calender so she tried mapping the hours and days by the movements of the people who occasionally came in her room...prison...cell. Sakura wasn't sure where she was, but from how many times Gaara had come to wherever she was, she could guess she had been locked away for more than three days. The Kazekage would come three times a day, asking whoever was looking over her if she showed any signs of waking to which they'd reply 'Iie Kazekage-sama'.

It seemed that no one recognized what was wrong with her, but she knew. After Sakura had fallen asleep and woken back up mentally, and could think fully, she remembered the forbidden jutsu that she had performed on herself in Shigakure. The genjutsu that Riyou had broken her from, but not completely, had finally reached it's ending point, and Sakura was now experiencing the price of using a forbidden Jutsu that gave the body the ability to ignore the need for food, water, and sleep over a extended period of time. The Jutsu always put its users in a Coma, with the duration of the Coma depending on the strength of the shinobi who used it.

Sakura had been conscious for three days and she wondered when her body would follow suit, because she still had a mission to complete...at least she hoped. Kohonagakure's ANBU Roots division may have already found the scroll, but even if they did it didn't matter. Sakura would just have to steal the stroll back from them, and kill-.

Sakura's thoughts froze. 'Kill?' If someone from roots had opened the scroll and learned its contents Sakura would have to kill them and anyone else who might have learned the scroll's secrets. Even if Roots weren't officially ran by the Godaime they were still apart of Kohonagakure...they were still Kohonagakure shinobi.

'I can't kill them.' Sakura thought conflicted. She had always wondered since that night on the roof , after accepting Riyou-sensei's offer when the lines of loyalty of Shigakure and Kohonagakure would cross, and when she had to choose a side who she would choose.

'Haven't I already chosen though? I became a missing-nin for Shigakure, doesn't that action speak for who has my loyalty? But I have never betrayed Tsunade-sensei, I have never smuggled Kohonagakure's forbidden scrolls and given them to Shigakure.'

'But they didn't ask you to.' A voice whispered in Sakura's mind making her wonder if Shigakure did ask her to steal Kohonagakure's secrets, would she?

Where was the line that if she crossed, she'd be no better than Orochimaru, or Sasuke? What mission from Shigakure would make her foot cross that invisible line. Would the mission she had been assigned by Shigakure's Kage be the shove that pushed her onto the side of treachery?

Sakura's hatred and sense of duty as a shinobi was dividing her, and she knew that she would have to choose a side or become a double-agent(shinobi).

BOOM

The loud slamming of a door broke Sakura from her line of thinking and made her focus her hearing on her surroundings.

Gaara had arrived.

Sometimes the redhead would enter the room calmly and other times in a rage, and soon after he would wrap his sand around her body as he paced noisily back and forth. The sand would pulse with the Kazekage's emotions, tightening with his rage and loosening when he came to his senses.

On days like this Gaara would arrive with the promise of death by Sand-tomb and leave having only given Sakura more to ponder in respects to his personality and sanity.

Gaara confused Sakura more than anyone she had ever met. The more time Sakura spent around him, even in the state she was in, her views of him changed.

When Sakura was a child she believed Gaara to be a scary Psychotic shinobi with a relentless thirst for blood, and that turned to believing him to be an asshole who hid his true nature from the world as he played Kage.

Now Sakura didn't know what to think. Gaara's obsession with her seemed to be more than the idea of her being a threat to Sunagakure or Kohona. On days like this, Sakura could feel a darkness and rage inside the Kazekage clawing and stirring, and it felt like she was the reason for it. It felt as if Gaara had a need to be sated and the only way to sate that need was to kill her.

But why? Shukaku was extracted, and the side effects of being brought back to life should not have lasted this long. What was wrong with him? Could it be because she had taunted him last time she had been in Sunagakure? Maybe no one has ever taunted Gaara and lived when he had the Shukaku, so now with it gone he still doesn't know how to handle that kind of thing.' Sakura thought listening to Gaara's heavy breathing and waiting for him to command his sand to slowly trail over her body and encase her.

"What's wrong with me?" Gaara growled out, and Sakura could mentally picture him clutching at his head as if trying to reign in a beast that was no longer there.

'Riyou-sama had said that even after Gaara had his demon extracted he wouldn't become a normal teenage boy. Could it be that because Gaara-san and Shukaku had been together for so long a bond like that can't be broken without leaving the host changed forever?'

'What does that have to do with me?' Sakura thought, still confused.

Sakura didn't even flinch as Gaara pulled back her covers and his sand began to trail up her body, as if memorizing her form.

Then something happened that went against Gaara's usual routine. Sakura felt the bed dip to her right, weighed down by Gaara's weight.

Sakura could feel her heart beat speed up. 'What is he doing?' Sakura wondered, as she felt Gaara's hand touch the side of her neck before wrapping around it as if he meant to choke her to death.

"Why?" Gaara whispered pressing his forehead against Sakura's.

"Tell me why!" Gaara yelled his hand leaving her neck as both of his hands grabbed at opposite sides of her head, pulling at the pink locks on either side.

Sakura felt her chakra flicker before it began to cover her body like a cloak. The actions of Sakura's chakra surprised her, it was as if it was trying to act as a shield. All the times Gaara had wrapped her in his sand, her chakra never did this before.

Gaara must have felt the difference in Sakura's chakra because his sand receded as his presence left the bed.

Sakura's body gave a small twitch as movement came back to her limbs, and her eyes flew open, immediately adjusting to the dim lighting of the room as they greedily took in images they had been denied while she was in a coma.

She was in a candlelit bedroom...without windows or any other furniture beside the bed that she was laying on and the table besides the bed with a bowl of water, and a bowl of something that Sakura wasn't sure she could call food. Every wall was a plain and barren brown sand color, and the floor was...there wasn't a floor, just sand. It was a if someone erected four walls and a ceiling out in the middle of the dessert forgetting to create a floor or provide any other furniture besides a soft comfortable bed.

Sakura's eyes rested on the candles that glowed softly from their position on the floor around the walls, before trailing to rest on a emotionless looking Gaara. She opened her mouth to speak and broke out into a fit of coughs. Gaara didn't attempt to help her, he just stood watching her, his fist clenched at his sides and the sand swaying as if by an invisible wind.

Sakura sat up and pushed her back to the wall since there wasn't a headboard, taking deep breaths as the coughs subsided, all the while never taking her eyes off of Gaara. She attempted to reach for the bowl of water beside her bed to soothe her dry throat, which was hard to do while having her eyes locked on a psychotic redhead.

Gaara's teal eyes followed Sakura's movements like a predator watching it's prey.

Without warning Gaara's sand shot out at Sakura. Sakura rolled quickly to the left falling out of the bed and landing on her sore stomach as she avoided the sand that shot out at her. Her limbs were lazy from disuse, but she was a shinobi, and didn't plan to stay down for long. If it was a fight Gaara wanted, it was a fight he would get.

Slowly rising into a squat position, Sakura sent healing chakra to her limbs getting rid of the tingling sensation that had began to overcome them. She stood up, body poised in a fighting position as her fist became infused with chakra.

Gaara hadn't changed positions, he just continued to stare at her in a odd unnerving way.

The atmosphere seemed tense.

'Gawrrrl'

A loud growl sounded from Sakura's stomach, sending a blush to her cheeks.

'No time for hunger pains!' Sakura scolded herself, her eyes flicking to the bowl of water on the table beside the bed she had been resting on.

"Thirsty?" Gaara asked as his sand lifted up the bowl of water and brought it to his side.

Sakura looked from the bowl of water to Gaara's calm features, wondering more than ever how he went from psychotic to calm and asking her if she was thirsty instead of trying to kill her.

Sakura slowly licked her dry lip, as her eyes darted from the bowl of water to Gaara's face.

Did Gaara honestly intend to play keep away with a bowel of water? Sakura had already passed the bell test, not even using her true abilities.

"You betrayed Kohonagakure." Gaara stated calmly as if the proof of Sakura's betrayal was visible for the world to see.

Sakura loosened her fighting stance and stood at her full height giving Gaara a bored look.

"You've locked me away, stalked my sleeping form throughout my time unconscious, and I'm guessing that no one from Kohonagakure knows I'm here, since I only remember you visiting me everyday. Then once I regain full consciousness you attack me. How do you think the Kazekage of Sunagakure holding the Godaime of Kohonagakure's apprentice hostage looks? It seems you are the traitor." Sakura said, smiling as a look of irritation graced Gaara's tanned features.

"I am not keeping you hostage, you are free to leave." Gaara said as his sand tipped the bowel over pouring all of the glorious liquid onto the sand floor.

Sakura watched in stunned horror as the dry floor soaked up every drop of water.

"You're extremely dehydrated and hungry, we are stationed outside of Sunagakure, at a secret hideaway in the middle of the desert...You are free to leave."

Sakura's dry mouth opened and closed in shock, as she slowly looked up from the now dry spot on the floor to Gaara's serious face.

"If you decide to stay, you will receive food and drink after you answer my questions." Gaara moved his sand to form a chair, and calmly sat down waiting for Sakura's response.

Sakura closed her mouth, and ducked her head as her shoulders began to shake.

Sakura let out a sound that seemed foreign to her ears, a sound that she forgot she was capable of.

Sheer, pure laughter.

Sakura started to laugh so hard that her eyes began to water, as she clutched her stomach. Every time she attempted to look Gaara in his eyes, she would laugh harder.

"F-food, and, a-and w-water?" Sakura spoke between fits of giggles.

"Amused at the prospect of starvation, or is hysteria a side effect of that forbidden jutsu you used on yourself?" Gaara asked as the sand around the room began to pulse.

Sakura took a deep breath sobering herself.

"Your method of interrogation is using food and water deprivation, I always thought it would be much bloodier and painful. As a genin you could make a jounin piss their pants with just a glare, and now that you've become Kage you're like a..." Sakura trailed off wiping at tears.

"A puppy." Sakura finished quickly dodging sharp sand projectiles that were sent her way.

'So he wants to fight me...I'm hungry and thirsty, but I wouldn't miss this chance for anything.' Sakura thought her laughter dying as her lips relaxed into a smile.

"As I trained to become stronger, you were one of the people I imagined fighting. The memory of you pinning me to a tree before going after my stronger teammates goes through my mind whenever I look at you." Sakura said, as she punched through the sharp cone shaped projectiles.

"Really Kazekage, I know you can do better than this." Sakura said as she teleported, appearing behind a unsuspecting Gaara.

Before Gaara had time to react Sakura had infused her arms with chakra and wrapped them around Gaara pining him in place, feeling his body tense against hers.

"I think-" Sakura began speaking loud enough for Gaara to hear, since he was a few heads taller than her. "You shouldn't restrain yourself. Shukaku is gone, but that hatred and rage, its still there. I see it when you look at me Kazekage. I'm not afraid of you or your interrogation methods, I can leave and go about my day without your help...but I would like to know which one of us is stronger."

"I believe we know the answer to that, one of us is a Kage and the other an apprentice." Gaara said a smirk in his voice as a sand projectile appeared behind Sakura stabbing her in the shoulder. Sakura flinched but didn't release her hold around Gaara.

"I've been a human pin cushion before, so stab away Kazekage, I'm not letting go until you hear my offer." The sand projectile stuck in Sakura's shoulder dropped to the ground to become one with the sea of sand below.

"You are Naruto's teammate, that is the only reason why you are still breathing." Gaara said, his sand slithering up Sakura's body to emphasize that he could encase Sakura in sand and kill her whenever he pleased.

"Sakura." Sakura said her name, anger seeping into her voice. "I am Haruno Sakura."

"I know your name kunoichi."

"Then use it! I'm not a possession, my existence doesn't begin and end with Naruto. I am apart of team seven with Naruto dammit! I'm not weak, and you will fight me or stand and get beaten within an inch of your life!" Sakura yelled releasing her grip around him as if touching him disgusted her.

"Do you want to die again kunoichi?" Gaara spat out angrily, his eyes burning with rage as he spun around to face the angry pink-haired kunoichi.

"I won't die." Sakura said, feeling as confident as she ever felt.

The sand around Gaara's feet pulsed.

"You've changed." Gaara said in accusatory tone his eyes staring holes into Sakura.

Sakura swayed on her feet felling lightheaded from hunger and thirst.

"You are in no condition to spar-"

"Spar? I want to fight, the kind of fight you have when your life is hanging in the balance, where death is standing watch and cheering." Sakura said her hand resting on her forehead as she moved to rest her back on the wall behind her, never taking her eyes off the Shinobi across from her.

"I need to know that you're weaker than me." Sakura said as a new hunger that had nothing to do with food began to rise in her. "I need to see you bleed and know its because of me." Sakura whispered the last part, but she knew Gaara heard when his eyes widened in shock.

Straightening herself up to her full height, Sakura began to walk towards Gaara.

"You feel it too don't you? You want to fight me...to hurt me and you don't know why." Sakura said, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she felt blood-lust bloom inside of her. The feeling was scary but at the same time...exciting. "That's why you always visited me, while I was in that coma, wrapping me in a blanket of sand, the feeling of my life being in your hands, of having that power over me. I didn't understand when I first met you as a child, how you could be so murderous and have a look of absolute satisfaction on your face at the same time...it was blood lust wasn't it Gaara? You needed to let those around you know that they couldn't hurt you, those who thought they were in control, needed to be shown who really was. I may not be your friend like Naruto, or have grown-up with you like Kankuro-san and Temari but I understand you more than they ever could. Don't I?" Sakura tilted her head and looked at Gaara curiously, as if seeing him for the first time.

Gaara's sand began to swirl around him as he clutched at his head as if in pain.

"Shukaku is gone...but why? Why do I feel this way?" Gaara rasped out. "I...no I can't."

"You can." Sakura said calmly holding out her hand and molding her dark-mattered chakra into a kunai.

"Fight me, if you win you can have whatever you want from me, and I want the same if I win." Sakura said sliding the kunai along her arm, watching a trail of blood form as if hypnotized.

Gaara's head jerked up, his eyes following the blade as Sakura cut all the way to her index finger tip.

"I've had so much physical pain, that I'm starting to build up a immunity. Do you think you can hurt me more than this? Because I think I've become numb."

"You know nothing." Gaara's voice rasped out in rage.

Sakura's head jerked up her eyes going from the trail of blood on her arm to rest on Gaara as if she had forgotten he was there.

"I think that I do. I know more than anyone else." Sakura said her eyes holding a glint of sadness that left just as fast as it had came.

Sakura listened to Gaara's breathing as it slowed and his mask of calm indifference spread across his features, smirking as the sand of the walls reached out in tendrils and tightly wrapped around her.

She could have dodged, but she decided against it to see what Gaara would do.

Gaara hands left his head and folded across his chest as he eyed Sakura with a curious glint in his eyes, as if studying some strange specimen that he never seen before.

"You were warned." Gaara spoke as if telling someone that they were about to die and they missed their chance to be saved. "The rules-"

"To win the opponent must be beaten within a inch of their life. Forbidden jutsu is allowed." Sakura expected Gaara to give her a look doubting her abilities, but all she found was the curious look replaced with a strange emotion that didn't seem like it fit on his face. The emotion was so misplaced that Sakura wasn't sure what to call it.

"How do I know you'll keep your word?" Gaara asked, releasing Sakura from the tendrils that held her against the wall.

"If I don't, then kill me." Sakura said casually, as she began to stretch. From the corner of her eye Sakura noticed the sand in the left corner of the room began to move, and she wondered if Gaara was starting already, but that thought changed when a brown duffel bag appeared from beneath the sand.

Sakura watched curiously as the sand carried the duffel bag and dropped it in front of her.

She looked at the bag before looking at Gaara.

"Last meal." Gaara said before turning away to go sit on his chair made of sand in a corner with his eyes closed as if meditating.

Sakura cautiously grabbed the bag and carried it to the bed dumping its contents on top of the sheets.

Two pieces of some flat type of bread in the shape of a disk, a canteen of water, a dried piece of fish and twelve pieces of dried fruit.

Sakura stared at the food a long time, wondering why the Kazekage was being so calm, and then to offer her food before they fought. Sakura briefly wondered if the food was drugged, or poisoned, but she knew that the Kazekage wasn't a coward, he would fight her she could feel it. The rage under his calm facade called to her.

GARWL!

Sakura blushed at the loud sound her stomach made.

Who was she kidding she was so thirty and hungry, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to keep solid food down after being in a coma induced by the forbidden justu that she used.

'I'm a medic-nin if I get sick I can handle it!' with that last thought Sakura sat down and folded her legs, picking up the canteen. After Smelling the liquid she assumed was water, she held it to her lips, and almost moaned in pleasure as the water flowed into her dry mouth down her parched throat.

When it came to the food, Sakura only ate enough to ease the hunger pains, since she didn't want to go into a fight with too much food on her stomach.

Sakura stood rotating the arm of the shoulder that had been stabbed, noting how the wound had closed up and healed on its own, leaving behind a added blood stain to her ragged top.

'When this fight was finish the first thing she was going to do was take a bath.' Her skin was covered in dirt, grim, blood, and sand.

"A time-limit."

Sakura looked up at Gaara who was now standing.

"What about no rules?" Sakura asked, popping her knuckles.

"I have a village to run."

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"How long?" The kunoichi asked interested in how long he thought it would take to defeat her.

"Sunset, its sunrise now."

"So the first one unable to fight at or before sunset loses?" Sakura asked while checking her chakra to see if she had enough to use the attack she had in mind.

"Hm." Gaara said raising his hand up above his head in a closed fist, then opening it.

As Gaara opened his palm the walls and ceiling that had seemed solid fell away into sand leaving only a bed. Before the sand could collapse to cover them Gaara moved his hand and the sand began to swirl around him forming a large ball of sand above them.

Sakura had to squint her eyes against the harsh rays of morning sunlight, but made sure she was aware of Gaara and the massive ball of sand floating above them, presence at all times.

She couldn't believe that Gaara had erected a single room in the middle of the desert to keep her locked away in...but he did. He also had an advantage over her, his weapon was the sand that covered the desert floor, there was no where she could step that he couldn't attack her from.

"How far are we away from Sunagakure?" Sakura asked holding her palms facing each other in front of her chest as she molded her dark-mattered chakra into a ball.

Gaara answered Sakura, by hurling the large ball of sand her way, while simultaneously sending four large waves of sand from the desert floor towards her with his other hand.

Sakura jumped atop one wave of sand focusing still concentrating on the dark-mattered chakra that she was molding into a ball.

Sakura couldn't create a stable condensed ball of chakra like Riyou-sensei had created for her to hold. If Sakura tried to create one, it would immediately become unstable and cause an uncontrolled explosion, that would not only hurt her but the Kage, but lucky for her she didn't mind the prospect of pain if it meant bringing a fast defeat to the Kazekage.

Sakura backflipped off of the wave of sand when tendrils of sand tried to wrap around her ankles. Sakura landed on her feet, running as the waves of sand turn to follow her. Sakura rapidly expanded the dark-mattered chakra ball in her hand, concentrating on keeping it stable as it began to wobble uncontrollably. The Waves of sand broke apart to become sharp sand projectiles. Sakura danced around each projectile swift and agile on her feet. She knew that Gaara was toying with her, trying to test her abilities, like a cat playing with a mouse.

Sakura's eyes briefly noted the giant ball of sand still hovering above her, drawing closer.

'He's definitely not a close range fighter.' Sakura thought, just before the large ball of sand above her began rapidly approaching the earth. Sakura knew that she couldn't outrun the sand weapon meant to smash her to the desert floor, so she waited close to impact and sent as much of her chakra into the dark-mattered chakra ball before trying to condense it by pushing her hands closer together, putting as much pressure on the dark-mattered chakra ball as she could. Sakura frowned as the ball actually started to condense.

'Nani?' Sakura thought not believing that the ball was condensing, even when she formed it improperly.

Sakura hands stilled as a image of Sunagakure fluttered through her mind. She didn't know how far away she was from the village if she created a condensed dark-mattered chakra ball, she couldn't destroy it, there would be no choice but to release it, and if she was close to the village she ran the risk killing villagers. If Sakura made It closer to Gaara she could focus all of the power of the partially condensed ball on Gaara, but she was sure he wouldn't survive to keep his part of the deal, and she couldn't get what she wanted if he died.

Sakura had formed the dark-mattered ball with the intention of sending out enough power to blow Gaara away a few feet, in a broken and bloody but still alive heap but at this rate...

'argh' Sakura growled, frustrated at her flawed Naruto-esque plan.

Sakura may be a murderer but she wasn't a heartless killer...yet. Sakura sent a jolt of her chakra into the ball as she rapidly pulled her hands from it, watching and tensing as it began to wobble out of control until it exploded sending out a massive wave of power. The partially condensed dark-mattered chakra ball's power burst out in all directions tearing apart the colossal ball of sand and the sand projectiles while the vibrations and wind created from the blast caused the sand on the desert floor to lift up in a massive wave around her and a stunned Gaara.

For a few moments everything was quiet, and a poet could have looked upon the still waves of sand surrounding the two fiery shinobi and been inspired to write a great epic poem of such a splendor.

And then... Sound came back again in the sound of grains of sand grinding against each other, as the waves of sand began to fall down towards the earth.

Sakura took in as much air in her lungs as she could as the waves of sand that blocked out the sun collapsed atop of her and the Kage. Before Sakura was buried she could have swore that she heard the voice of the redheaded ex-demon holder standing out amongst the deafening sound of sand.

Sakura closed her eyes against the rough grains of sand as they tore at her skin. She wanted to cry out as the pressure of the sand increased with every passing second, but instead she kept her mouth closed and focused on her chakra, molding it around her body, pushing against the sand, creating chakra bubble around her, that acting as a thin layer between her skin and the abrasive sand.

Sakura wondered how deep she was buried and how long her oxygen would last. She couldn't teleport out because she had to have some idea of where she would appear afterward, and she didn't know how far down she was.

'I need to create a explosion large enough to blast this sand off of me before Gaara think he's won.' Sakura thought straining to bring her hands together in the thin shield she had formed.

Sakura could feel large vibrations all around her, and she opened her chakra protected eyes to the darkness of the sand that buried her. She wasn't causing the vibrations something above her was.

'Gaara...what are you doing up there?' Sakura thought knowing that he most likely used his manipulation of sand to keep from being buried, and was responsible for the vibrations that she felt.

Sakura suddenly felt like she was moving and the sand around her was spreading further away from her, as if hollowing out to leave her in a familiar small dome of sand.

'impossible!' Sakura thought recognizing Gaara's signature sand tome. She couldn't understand how and when he had time to encase her in one...how did he find her so fast...why was he helping her?

Sakura began to form chakra kunai instead of the dark-mattered chakra ball she had planned to use to blast her free of the sand, and when she was done she held perfectly molded dark-mattered chakra kunai in each hand ready to launch them at Gaara as soon as he released her.

Sakura's brows furrowed in confusion as the sand that had became a dome around her began to close in on all of her body save for her head. Sakura didn't have to wonder what Gaara was doing for long, because the sand around her head fell away, and Sakura immediately took in greedy gulps of the dusty air after a large exhale. Sakura began to cough.

"Surrender."

Sakura heard Gaara's voice but couldn't see him until she looked down, realizing that she was up in the air just above him, floating.

Gaara's face was glistening in sweat as sand clung to his skin and hair, he held out a slightly opened fist that controlled the sand she was clutched in. As Gaara lowered Sakura to be eye level with him, she noticed he was breathing fast like he had just run a marathon.

Gaara's angry teal eyes locked with hers as his lips were held in a deep frown.

"I'm not bloody or beaten within a inch of my life. I will not surrender." Sakura said defiantly, acting as if being buried beneath sand with limited oxygen hadn't been a big deal.

Gaara began closing his fist, knocking the hair out of Sakura's lungs.

"You can't win here." Gaara said his face no where near his mask of indifference.

"You don't think I can bring you to your knees in this oversized sandbox?" Sakura said her eyes becoming red and her canines elongating along with her nails.

"A _Jinchuuriki...__No.__What__are__you?__" __Gaara__asked__his__frown__deepening._

_Sakura__grinned__and__answered__ "__Power.__" __before__the__chakra__wrapped__around__her__body__exploded__blasting__Gaara's__sand__tome__from__her__body._

_Sakura__landed__on__her__feet__and__immediately__ran__at__Gaara__throwing__her__dark-mattered__kunai__at__Gaara,__watching__as__he__dodged__and__began__to__counter__attack__with__whips__of__sand__as__he__jumped__backwards__and__then__in__the__air__atop__a__floating__disk__of__sand._

"I don't think so." Sakura said smirking as she crouched low and jumped up higher than a average shinobi could landing on Gaara's disk with him, and punching him faster then he react to with a chakra enhanced fist, knocking him back towards the ground. As Gaara was falling down Sakura jumped down falling with him, throwing punches and kicks as Gaara blocked each one with sand, that Sakura's fist easily tore through. As they were about to hit the ground Gaara sent out a blast of sand towards Sakura's eyes momentarily blinding her, giving him enough time to flip in the air and land on his feet.

Sakura quickly put a hand covered in healing chakra to her burning, itchy eyes and pulled the grains of sand out while healing the little cuts they left in their wake, still managing to land on her feet.

"I didn't think the good boy that is Sunagakure's Kage could fight dirty." Sakura growled out giving Gaara a death glare.

Gaara in response began running towards Sakura weaving his hands across the air as the sand rose to do his biding in the form of sharp spikes jetting out of the ground aimed at Sakura.

Sakura smirked and ran towards Gaara her arms held out to her sides. Just as one of Gaara's spikes would have impaled her she flickered away in teleportation to reappear behind Gaara. Sakura issued a chakra enhanced roundhouse kick to Gaara's back knocking him off of his feet and making his body fly to the side, airborne across the sand.

Sakura stood still watching as Gaara's body impacted with the ground, then teleported to where he laid. Sakura sat atop Gaara's stomach with a leg on either side of him, her face inches from his and a chakra kunai at his throat.

Gaara groaned before opening stunned eyes.

Sakura wasn't use to the look of shock on the Kage's face, but she seemed to bring it out of him often.

Sakura leaned closer as if she was about to kiss Gaara before her head tilted to the side to his left ear.

"Surrender." Sakura whispered amusement in her voice, at hearing Gaara take in a sharp inhale.

Sakura felt the sharp point of a sand projectile at her back. Gaara turned his head to whisper in her ear, as the projectile slide across her back leaving a trail of blood and a deep gash from her left hip to her right shoulder blade.

"No."

The glow of Sakura's eyes intensified from the pain, and the tone of Gaara's voice. Sakura tilted her head back to look at Gaara's face, and the crazed look she remembered from her genin years, the blood-lust was there and directed fully on her, not Naruto, Sasuke, or anyone else but her.

Sakura took her kunai and slide it along the side of Gaara's neck creating a cut deep enough to draw slight blood, but not make him bleed to death. Sakura held the Kunai up for Gaara to see his own blood on it.

"I remember that you didn't care much for the sight of your own blood." Sakura said leaning forward enough so the projectile wasn't cutting her anymore, than rolling to the side and off of Gaara, as he stood up.

"All those years ago, when I stuck you to that tree I didn't know why Shukaku wouldn't let me kill you, now without him I can see how close I can get to meeting your conditions of beating you within an inch of your life."


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: I haven't updated in a long time. **

**Thank you for your reviews:**

**Goddess of War1Keeper of TIME: And yes there are a lot more chapters to come.**

**x0x0-DarkRadiancex-x0x0: Thank you so much for you review and PM. I posted this chapter today after reading your PM.**

**CallMeSweetie: Thank you.**

**Little-Bad-Angel: I've finally updated, sorry for the wait.**

**Thank you everyone for reading, and I hope you continue to like "Good Enough".**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**WARNING: This chapter includes torture, blood, slight gore, and mutilation. **

"All those years ago, when I stuck you to that tree I didn't know why Shukaku wouldn't let me kill you, now without him I can see how close I can get to meeting your conditions of beating you within an inch of your life."

"Big words for a good boy." Sakura said eyeing Gaara's blood on her dark-mattered chakra kunai. "I wonder what your blood tastes like? Spicy, bitter, sour, or sweet?" Sakura brought the kunai to her mouth, and watched Gaara's eyes look at her lips. "Knowing you it's probably poisonous." Sakura said throwing the Kunai at Gaara's head.

"Enough talking." Gaara said quickly leaning to his right and dodging the kunai. Gaara ran towards Sakura as the sand from the desert's floor rose to become two large sand hands that closed and became fist. Gaara motioned as if he was punching, and the sand fist mirrored his movements.

Sakura dodged Gaara's sand punches, and dropped to the ground as the sand fist changed into sharp spikes. One of the spikes coming from the desert floor itself pierced Sakura's shoulder where she had been pierced previously pinning her in place. The sand turned red with Sakura's blood as Gaara walked closer to stand above her.

"You talk so much, yet you have nothing to show for it." Gaara said preparing to stab more of his sand spikes into Sakura.

Sakura wore a tight smile on her face. "Have you ever considered that I like this side of you? The side that wants to see me hurt?" Sakura said digging her hands into the sand and forming dark-mattered chakra beneath the sand.

Gaara clutched at his head in frustration as he bared his teeth at Sakura.

"Die" Gaara whispered. Stabbing another spike in Sakura's other shoulder, tearing the last piece of her shirt that kept it up.

As Gaara closed his eyes as if in agony Sakura flicked her wrists and shot both kunai out of the sand, stabbing them into Gaara's shoulders in the same place he had her pierced through. As Gaara's concentration broke the sand spikes dissolved and Sakura teleported behind Gaara rapidly creating a non-condensed ball of dark-mattered chakra and tossing it at Gaara, as he spun around. Gaara erected a sand barrier but the ball of chakra blasted through the sand and exploded sending Gaara flying backwards with the force.

Sakura tore off the remains of her filthy ragged shirt and threw it to the ground, leaving dingy blood stained binding as the only thing covering her chest. As she stood in the hot sun in only her black shorts and chest bindings, she knew that the resulting sun burn would be a bitch.

Forming hand signs Sakura created three dark-mattered chakra clones with equally red eyes. The clones didn't wait for Sakura's commands and took off on their own towards Gaara who had a sand hand catch him in midair.

As Sakura's clones kept the red-headed Kazekage busy, Sakura stared hard at Gaara. She needed to get him angry. The Shukaku might be gone, but a beast remained present, right in plain sight.

'It sometimes takes a monster to drag out a beast.' Sakura thought as she popped her knuckles and let memories and empty promises act as the building blocks to her rage. Feeling her nails lengthening and her canines extending Sakura smirked as Gaara's head turned in her direction and one of her clones issued a round house kick to his skull. The Kazekage could feel her power…good.

Sakura clapped her hands together briefly applauding her clones as Gaara picked himself off of the desert floor. Without giving the Kazekage time to recover, Sakura ran at top speed and launched herself at the dazed red head, imbedding her chakra infused nails through Gaara's clothes into his back. Sakura pumped as much of her chakra into the wound as possible, delicately webbing it into his chakra, before being slammed to the ground by a large sand fist.

Barley inhaling sand free air, Sakura rolled out the way of the sand fist that attempted to smash her again; however she wasn't fast enough as the fist of sand slammed down on her ankle and foot. Sakura bawled up her fist against the pain as the bones where the sand met flesh shattered. Without being ordered to, Sakura's clones dissolved themselves and poured their power back into their Original.

"Do you admit defeat?" Gaara growled out, holding his fist in the air as the sand fist mirrored his own.

Sakura felt the dusty fragments of her shattered bones began to heal, but she didn't lie around and wait for the pain to stop. Standing up and balancing on one leg, she licked Gaara's blood from off her nails, all the while never taking her eyes off of him. At the taste Sakura found herself shivering in delight as her eyes closed briefly before opening again. The pleasure that spiked through her shocked her.

"You taste…like honey, spicy honey." Sakura said in mild awe as her head tilted to the side, her lips wrapped around one slim blood covered digit licking it clean. Sakura ignored Gaara's shocked expression, as a slow smile spread across her face, as if she were a child who just had their first piece of chocolate.

"Thirty minutes. You have Thirty minutes to beat me within an inch of my life. Make me bleed; make me beg for you to stop. G-aara…" Sakura purred out his name.

Gaara's eyes closed as his face showed his internal struggle, when he opened them again he looked exhausted as his body shook with pent up desires.

"What do you want from me?" Gaara said his face showing his anguish and momentary look of defeat, as if he knew some type of internal dam would break, and he would never be the same afterwards, he would never be able to deny the chaos caused by what slept behind that damn, there would be no denying who…what he really is.

Sakura knew when the dam broke the minute Gaara began to scream in anger. "I try to spare you! I try to not kill you! For his sake!" Gaara yelled turning the sand fist into spikes aimed at Sakura.

"Naruto!" Sakura fumed. "I won't stop at you, I'll kill Temari, or maybe keep her alive…heal her, beat her and heal her again. I will make you regret ever pinning me to the tree if you don't stop hiding behind that fucking coward's mask of Kazekage! This is why you died. You let Naruto make you weak, before with your bloodlust you wouldn't have fallen so easily. Maybe your dear sweet Naruto-kun should have killed you." Sakura didn't have to wait long for the consequences of her words as the sand of the desert floor began to vibrate, and two sand fists and numerous spikes began attacking her all at once. Gaara ran towards her growling as if the Shukaku still held him in its embrace, but Sakura knew better.

Sakura dodged all of his attacks, still supporting herself with one leg and her hands at times when she needed to. It was happening; all of that pent up bloodlust was being unleashed. She felt the sand lock around her wrist as she supported her weight in a handstand. Sand chains wrapped around her legs keeping her suspended in position as Gaara circled around her, his hands clutching at his head as the sand projectiles became smaller, almost needle like. When Gaara finally came to a stop in front of her, he lifted his head up as his hands went to his side. The sadistic look of bloodlust stained his features.

"An inch of your life, twenty minutes." Gaara whispered as he lifted a hand and controlled a sand needle to scrap across Sakura exposed stomach, leaving a crimson trail of blood.

"Scream." Gaara quietly demanded as the needle pierced through Sakura's side, missing her vital organs.

When Sakura didn't speak, and just closed her eyes against the pain a second sand needle slide along her stomach to her thigh where it imbedded itself, so deep it came out on the other side.

Sakura remained quiet until she felt sand needles line up to the points surrounding her belly bottom.

When a needle slid against one of the points, drawing blood, her whole body twitched, and her eyes began to water against her will, but she would not cry, not for him. She opened her eyes as she felt the needles replaced by a warm calloused hand, Gaara's hand. He smeared the blood across her stomach before bringing his hand to his mouth and tasting her blood. Sakura didn't get to see the look on his face because he turned his back to her as he tasted her. He must have liked it, because without saying a word, his sand needles dug into the points on her stomach breaking skin, as she screamed in pain and more blood cascaded down her body. It felt like fire was ripping through her, burning everywhere. Why were the points of her seal so sensitive?

"Beg me kunoichi, beg me to stop." Gaara said, his sand mimicking the scratches she gave him in his back with some more needles as they stabbed her deeply.

Sakura's red eyes met Gaara's teal ones. "Kazekage-kun… don't stop, I'm still alive" Sakura said biting her lip as the needles slowly went deeper and deeper into her flesh. The pain was horrible, she hated it, but it was a necessary distraction, besides she planned to make the red-headed Kazekage feel more physical pain than he's ever felt in his life. If Gaara wasn't more psychotic than usual after she was done with him, she deserved to be defeated.

Gaara laughed an eerie laugh as he wrapped a miniature sand tomb around each of Sakura's legs.

"Hontou?" Gaara asked as he abruptly closed his fist, shattering the bones of Sakura's left leg.

Sakura screamed as the trail of water coming from her eyes became heavier, mixing with her blood on the desert floor.

Gaara kneeled down to her ear, with his cheek pressed against hers.

"Time is running out. Fifteen minutes and you lose regardless." Gaara grinned madly as a sand tomb wrapped around Sakura's healed ankle and foot crushing the bones there again.

"Ah!" Sakura screamed out, the pain forcing her voice to break free of her bleeding mouth. Sakura's vision blurred momentarily as black dots began to dance in her vision.

"Twelve minutes." Gaara rasped out bringing a finger to Sakura's bleeding mouth, to retrieve some of the blood there. "Pinning you to that tree, it wasn't due to you being weak or insignificant. Back then I destroyed weak and insignificant things, that had no right to breath." Gaara said, seemingly mesmerized by the blood on his finger, as he roughly trailed his sand up Sakura's body leaving raw skin in places the sand touched.

Sakura forced her vision to focus as her chakra peaked angrily at the words weak and insignificant. "Then why?" Sakura demanded after spitting out the blood produced by her bitten tongue. Gaara's psychotic eyes locked with hers, as he descended further into the madness of his bloodlust.

"I saw you."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock and confusion as Gaara's wild eyes flickered to her hair, looking at it with mild curiosity.

"We killed everyone who got in our way, they all boasted about their strength." Gaara smirked. "Once they were encased in sand, bloody and broken they were all so very weak and pathetic." "Shukaku… we killed because they deserved to die. Fucking false pretenses, nothing is real, everyone is always hiding behind some kind of mask in our world…but this" Gaara held out his hand at Sakura's blood covering the sand. "This is real, blood is real. Blood is simple, it doesn't lie or try to be anything else."

So this was it, this was what Riyou-sensei had meant when he said that Gaara-san would never be a normal teenaged boy. It didn't matter if physically Shukaku was gone. Mentally and spiritually Gaara-san and Shukaku were inseparable, anyone who looked at the red-head and simply saw a reformed menace turned calm and responsible Kazekage were sorely mistaken. Gaara-san had become the very demon his village implanted within him at birth. Did he keep up the false pretense of a well-behaved Kazekage in an effort to entertain unsuspecting fools? Or did he want to make himself believe that he could change? Sakura didn't know, but she felt something in that moment. Sadness blossomed inside of her for the tormented Kage before her.

"You were hiding, playing Kazekage in your sand tower." Sakura said shaking herself out of her stunned silence, and locking the sadness in a mental cage where it belonged, because she still planned to kick Gaara-san's heart-warming ass.

Gaara brought his bloody hand up to touch the kanji for love on his forehead, as he closed his eyes.

"Naruto-san, made me believe that I could be something different, that Shukaku was the one who was the monster and-"

"Not you." Sakura finished off, thinking of her blonde teammate and his bubble-headed stupidity. "You wanted to be like that blonde idiot, because you thought if Naruto could be happy and deny the nature of his demon then so could you, but you can't."

"Kunoichi, you still act as if you understand me." Gaara said opening his eyes once more to calmly look at the mess of broken bones and blood that was Sakura. The Kazekage didn't flinch or show any emotion other than calm assessment, as he ran his bloody hand through his red hair, as the sun started its downward descent in the sky.

"I understand bloodlust, and living in a world of eyes yet never having anyone really see you. Being invisible blood-lusters is where our similarities begin and end." Sakura said smiling sadly at the Kazekage before yelling "Soul-freeze no jutsu!"

Sakura collapsed to the ground in a broken heap as Gaara's sand released her and his guttural screams breeched the serenity of the dessert sunset.

Sakura stared at Gaara, as the last jutsu Riyou-sensei half-taught her ran a horrible trail through the Kazekage's chakra system.

**FLASH-BACK**

Sakura sat atop the rooftop of Kohona's Hospital finishing up a rice ball as she watched her Shigakure sensei look up at the glittering stars blanketing the sky.

"What is a soul?" Riyou asked lying down beside Sakura and resting his head on his giant scroll.

"An ethereal spirit body is a soul." Sakura replied after thinking for a bit.

"It depends on who you ask, but for the purpose of this little chat I'll agree." Riyou responded. " However you just explained to me what a soul is to a civilian, what is a soul to a shinobi? And before you answer that, can anything live without a soul? Quick, yes or no?"

Sakura pondered her sensei's line of questioning but responded "No."

"Now tell me what is a soul to a shinobi?"

Sakura turned to look at her sensei who was watching her with an intense look on his face.

"Chakra is a shinobi's soul" Riyou said, after waiting for Sakura to answer.

"But a shinobi can exist without chakra, look at Lee." Sakura said frowning.

"The green bean has chakra, everything on this planet has a chakra signature. Those who can't use chakra like you have un-awakened chakra. Your chakra is alive and vibrant moving through you, waiting to be used as an extension of yourself, those with un-awakened chakra merely use their chakra as life force, which quietly sits in the back ground under the name "soul". If a shinobi or civilian completely depleted all of their chakra reserves they would die. Energy, ATP is chakra and vice versa." Riyou stopped talking to stand up and walk to the edge of the building looking down at the quiet streets, Sakura got up and stood beside him.

"When you eat food, that food has its own chakra and by consuming it, you're adding that chakra to your reserves. Imagine being able to stop all of that energy in another's body at will." Riyou said.

"So when you said you were going to teach me to freeze souls, you meant you were going to teach me to freeze all of the chakra within a person's body? Wouldn't that kill them?"

"You will not destroy or drain their chakra you would be freezing it so they would still be alive but unable to function. Your opponent will be as if dead, but once unfrozen they'll be back to normal. This attack was created to keep hostages perfect hostages when traveling for long distances. The problem with it is it relies too much on the chakra of the shinobi who uses the jutsu. You would have to possess beyond perfect chakra control. Your chakra has to seep into your opponent's body and wrap around their chakra without them noticing, and when you have every chakra pathway covered you constrict and freeze their chakra. One would have to be able to concentrate through all distractions to perform this jutsu. Whatever sensory events your body experiences while your chakra is weaving through your opponent's system, your opponent will feel all at once just before their chakra system is frozen."

"What happens if you can't hold your focus on your own chakra while its weaving through your opponents body?" Sakura asked.

"Your opponent's chakra becomes aware of the presence of foreign chakra in their body, and their chakra attacks your chakra while strings of it is running from their body to yours; which means you run the risk of having chaotic foreign chakra inside your body permanently damaging your chakra system."

"And you think my chakra control is strong enough to learn that jutsu? I'm still a genin!" Sakura yelled looking at her sensei like he had grown a second head.

"Well yeah, that and I plan to only teach you half of the technique and the rest I'll teach you at some later date."

And after that night Sakura's sensei pulled his long disappearing act, returning once Sakura became a teenager.

**END FLASH-BACK **

After Riyou-sensei had disappeared Sakura had practiced the technique on flowers and bugs, slowly going up the chakra chain until she put together the pieces and learned what her sensei forgot to teach her. Sakura couldn't believe that she had kept full control over her chakra in Gaara's body, as the red-head tortured her, but she did.

Gaara's screams died out as his body collapsed to the ground.

Sakura wondered if her body would still have enough free chakra to heal itself, and as if answering her question Sakura felt her dust like bones begin to rebuild. Bone, vessels, and flesh all mending beneath broken skin. She knew that she would have to move herself and Gaara-san before Sunagakure shinobi investigated the source of the loud screams and explosions that echoed through the desert all day. How much time she had to move depended on how far out they were from the village.

Pondering the idea of teleporting herself and Gaara, Sakura looked at the darkening sky. In this state her chakra reserves still felt full. She was in pain and sore but she didn't feel weak. Whatever changed her appearance in Shigakure made her stronger. She wondered what type of monster she was becoming, but washed those thoughts away with thoughts of her teammate's faces the day beats them into the ground. Each punch and kick representing all the pain she's ever felt. With the anger inspired by revenge coursing through her, Sakura's chakra roared to life as she crawled to lay atop Gaara, closing his unblinking eyes against the harsh Sunagakure sun with her hands.

Sakura hissed in pain as she wrapped her arms around Gaara and flipped him over to rest his heavier weight atop her healing broken body. She had to teleport them both and that would require concentrating all of her wild chakra into three tasks: Healing her, keeping the Kazekage's chakra frozen and teleporting them. Sakura could just unfreeze Gaara's chakra once the sun went down completely and just let him carry her back, but she didn't know if she trusted him enough not to try to kill her after the pain she made him experience.

Compared to her petite frame, Gaara was heavy! Sighing Sakura decided that she would have to unfreeze Gaara's chakra in five minutes, but having him atop her was not the position of defeat that she wanted him to wake up in, so she flipped him back over and painfully lifted her healing legs with her hands to straddle Gaara's chest as she held his hands together above his head with her own chakra infused hands.

Sakura placed her forehead against Gaara's forehead and deeply inhaled and exhaled several times before unraveling her chakra from Gaara's chakra and quickly pulling her own chakra back into her body before it could be attacked. When Sakura was done she and Gaara took in a large gulp of air as if they had just been revived after drowning. Sakura pulled her head away from Gaara's but still held his hands as his teal eyes fluttered open.

"Before you decide to attack me, you should know that the sun has set and I won. I froze you within an inch of your life before sunset." Sakura said as Gaara looked at her, then the sky and finally her body's position atop his. Sakura tensed as Gaara opened his mouth to speak, she expected a death threat but not such a calm reply.

"So you did." Gaara replied quietly, trailing his eyes from where Sakura sat straddling him to her glowing red orbs.

"I unfroze you because I couldn't teleport us both without knowing exactly where I'm going. You didn't tell me how far we are from Sunagakure."

"I didn't." Gaara stated calmly, his eyes still locked with Sakura.

Sakura's eyes widened in panic as she wondered if she messed up the jutsu and messed up Gaara beyond repair. Did her chakra screw with his nervous system? Was his brain ok?

Sakura pulled a hand away from holding Gaara's hands and placed it on Gaara's forehead, letting her green chakra examine his insides. Her hand moved to the crown of his head running through his unruly red hair as she scanned for cranial damage. She paused in her examination when she felt Gaara's free hand in her own dirty hair, combing down through her long matted pink locks.

Sakura looked at Gaara's face as he brought his hand back to join his other hand above his head.

'What in the hell is wrong with him?' Sakura thought as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Shaking her head, she finished her examination, not finding anything wrong with the Kazekage besides his behavior. Sakura brought her free hand to rest back atop Gaara's free hand as she pinned him down with her chakra. "The deal was that if I won you would give me anything I asked for."

"I remember." Gaara responded seemingly unaffected by the precarious positioning of their bodies, and Sakura's lack of clothes as she rested atop him in her ninja shorts and chest bindings.

"Well I'm asking for ten things. First: food, shelter and clothes. Second, that you not tell anyone about my whereabouts, and the other requests you'll learn once we return to Sunagakure. Understood?"

"Wakarimashita."

"Good." Sakura said releasing Gaara's hands and scooting back from him as his eyes remained locked with hers. The calm way he looked at her unnerved her for some reason.

"Nani?" Sakura thought as she felt something odd. Looking down, finally noticing where she had scooted to, Sakura's face turned a beet red, almost matching the color of Gaara's hair. Sakura rolled off of Gaara faster than she thought was possible for any shinobi. She gave out a hiss of pain as her body impacted with the ground beside the red-head.

Blushing furiously Sakura looked at the spot on Gaara's anatomy where she had felt the bulge, before quickly looking away again. 'Kami-sama did Gaara-san get off on being dominated? Was that why he was acting so weird?' Sakura didn't know why she was blushing, she had seen plenty of nude shinobi while working in the hospital as Tsunade-sama's Apprentice, but this was different. This was I-hate your-guts-and-want-you-to-die Gaara being attracted to her. Sakura had forgotten that anyone could be attracted to her in that way, since she had been focusing so hard on becoming stronger. She was violent, filthy and in desperate need of a bath, how could anyone find her attractive? But Riyou-sensei had kissed her…he found her attractive. She was a shinobi, but how could she forget that under the dirt and growing power she was still a woman?

Not knowing what to make of anything, Sakura took the safest road possible.

"Are you pondering your defeat Kazekage, because as much as I would like to help you ponder how you got your assed handed to you, I have things to do." Sakura responded, waiting to see how the red-head would respond.

Sakura watched curiously as Gaara stood up and turned to face her kneeling down to be eye level with her.

Sakura thought he would kiss her as his eyes flickered from her lips to her eyes again.

"Address me as Gaara…" Gaara stalled staring at her intently with an honorific on his tongue that never reached the surface as he continued speaking "Not Kazekage." Gaara said before the sand beneath Sakura gently lifted her body off of the desert floor and enclosed her in a sand tomb, which she suspected was Gaara's custom way of dealing with her in regards to transportation.

Deciding to trust that the red-head would honor his deal with her, Sakura let sleep claim her in efforts to speed up the healing process.

When Sakura awoke again it was to the feeling of a soft bed and silky sheets against her skin. She moaned in relief at her injuries being fully healed just sore. Hopefully her muscles wouldn't have to be built back up from zero. Opening her eyes, Sakura stared at the blood red sheets before looking at the elegantly furnished room around her. A cherry wood dresser stood up against a dusty sand colored wall beside the bed. After seeing the wall Sakura ignored the other cherry wood furnishings and sat up looking for the blood thirsty red-head who brought her here. She didn't have to look far, because the red-head in question stood on the balcony with his back facing her as he stared at the large desert moon that seemed closer than any full moon Sakura had seen in Kohona.

Sakura watched as Gaara turned around and walked back into the room, sitting in a corner chair.

"Haruno Sakura." Gaara said slowly, as if he was testing out how Sakura's name sounded on his tongue. "Thank you, I-"

"Don't thank me. You have a problem with looking for your identity to be handed to you by someone. You don't have to be the village beast, the good and safe Kazekage, or something in between. I'm not Naruto." Sakura said staring at her hands, and wondering where her anger had gone. Why did she feel so comfortable around the Kazekage?

"Yet you pushed me to give into my bloodlust."

"It felt nice didn't it?" Sakura asked as the images of defeating the sword mistress floated through her mind.

"What are you?" Gaara asked standing up, as his face remained hidden in shadow.

Sakura gave a dark mirthless chuckle "You don't deserve to know. I am a shinobi, my secrets belong to me."

"Secrets? I am Kage there are no secrets that I can't uncover."

Sakura closed her eyes before opening one and sighing. "You're right. You are my Kage for the duration of your debts to me, I own you, my very own blood thirsty puppet. Kami must love me." Sakura said stretching as she slide the covers from her dirty body and stood, happy with the strength in her legs. Her body was healing much more efficiently and rapidly, she stopped to ponder why, but decided she had stalled enough on other matters.

"I could crush you." Gaara whispered just loud enough for Sakura to hear as he revealed himself from the shadows. The Soft look on his face didn't fit his menacing words.

"You've tried and failed miserably Kazekage-chan. I like your bloodlust but business comes before pleasure."

"Woman." Gaara growled his eyes glowering at a smirking Sakura in warning.

"I need a bath, and a change of clothes, and you finally get to put that title of yours to use when I'm done."

Sakura skillfully dodged out of the way of a sand whip.

"When I defeated you I didn't want to leave many visible scars on your body, because that would have caused questions I'm sure you wouldn't have wanted to answer. I really want a bath, do I have to beat you silly for one? Maybe leave a scar or ten?" Sakura asked with her hand on her hip as she glared at the annoying Kazekage. Gaara opened his mouth to speak but Sakura cut him off with an angry growl of her own.

"Fine! I don't care if I ever bathe ever again." Sakura stalked across the room to stand right in front of Gaara, tilting her head up so he didn't miss the look of fury and aggravation on her face. Sakura grabbed the ragged material of Gaara's mesh shirt tightly with her fist as she aimed her other fist at his face. "Put your sand tomb around the both of us, what I have to say requires privacy, and I don't trust the walls of Sunagakure." Sakura gave Gaara a pointed look as she said this, which earned a smirk in return as Gaara did as Sakura wished.

Sakura eyed how closed in they were and asked Gaara to make the sand tomb bigger and with thicker walls. She was sure that they wouldn't run out of air because what she needed to do wouldn't take long.

"I need a shinobi blood contract from you of secrecy. The information I give you can never be shared between anyone other than the two of us. If you break your oath"

"I am aware of what a blood contract entails…Sakura."

Sakura's eyes widened at the use of her first name, as she felt her cheeks heat. Releasing Gaara's shirt she backed away from him while dropping eye contact. She looked up again as Gaara began forming hand signs producing a small scroll after a loud pop and white smoke.

"This is a Sunagakure Kazekage contract scroll." Gaara quickly sliced the palm of Sakura's hands with a thin whip of sand, before tossing the scroll to her.

Catching the scroll with her uncut hand, Sakura unrolled it and laid it on the floor as she squatted down and began writing her terms on the contract and the consequences of breaking the agreement. Faster than Gaara could react Sakura produced a Dark-mattered chakra kunai and sliced Gaara's shoulder open, before tossing the scroll back to him and standing up.

Dragging her fingers through her dirt filled crusty hair, in the back of Sakura's mind she couldn't help but wonder if I-Want-To-Rip-You-To-Pieces-And-Laugh-On-Your-Grave Gaara liked her. Gaara is a male, and just because he is sadistic and cold, didn't mean that he is incapable of lust. Sakura felt her cheeks heat up again. As a child Sakura was scared of Gaara after he pinned her to that tree as Shukaku, and then as she trained under Riyou-sensei and became stronger Gaara was added to the list of people whose ass she wanted to kick. She would admit that there was a part of her that she wanted to beat into oblivion that liked Gaara, but maybe not in the way he liked her. Sakura liked fighting and teasing the Kazekage, she liked his fire and bloodlust. The only reason she blushed every time Gaara did something un-Gaara like, was because it was weird.

Sakura stirred from her thoughts when a hand clasped around the wrist of her bleeding hand.

"You're not very alert." Gaara said calmly studying Sakura with his teal eyes.

"Hm, I wonder why? Maybe because I've been through hell, I smell like hell and I look like hell." Sakura said through gritted teeth.

"Red is your color."

Sakura watched as Gaara's eyes focused on her bleeding hand, and she suspected that what he said was meant to insinuate more than just the blood dripping from her palm. Sakura grabbed Gaara's hand with her free hand and produced a kunai before cutting his palm.

"The shoulder cut was just because I like the color of blood against your skin. It suits you Kazekage…chan." Sakura said grabbing the scroll and reading over it again before having Gaara sign it in his blood followed by her signing it in her blood. After she finished signing it she formed hand signs and produced a copy of the original scroll, handing the copy to Gaara and keeping the original for herself. When Sakura looked up again, Gaara was closer than he had been a minute ago, and his bloody hand had found its way to her dirty pink locks, coating them in red. Gaara slide his fingers through her hair to her left cheek.

"You are the only shinobi to have insulted me as much as you have, to cause me as much pain as you have and still remain un-maimed and alive-"

"You did maim me, in the dessert, or at least you came close to detaching one of my limbs from my body." Sakura said, sending chakra to her fist.

Gaara stared at Sakura's face as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What is it about you? You're so intoxicating on every level."

Years later or weeks later if anyone had the balls to ask Sakura what she was thinking when she did what she did next, she would pull at her hair and scream to the heavens 'I don't know!' before beating the hell out of anyone who asked her about it in the first place.

Sakura held Gaara's gaze, emerald locked with teal as she leant forward quickly brushing her lips against Gaara's in a chaste kiss. She had given the Kazekage her first real not stolen kiss, and she didn't know why.

Sakura blushed fully now as she stared down at how close Gaara's body was to hers. If he took half a step forward they'd be flush against each other. Her eyes widened as Gaara knelt down and brushed his lips against hers as if testing something out.

"Ano-" Sakura began just to close her mouth as Gaara tilted her face up and brushed his lips against hers again as he held her gaze. Sakura's eyes briefly flickered to the tattoo of the kanji for love on his forehead, visible beneath his over grown bangs.

"This feeling, it's like bloodlust, but it's not just your blood I want." Gaara said searching Sakura's eyes as if the answer to his question waited silently there for him to discover.

Sakura slowly brought her chakra infused fist up and opened it as she pressed her palm against Gaara's cut shoulder and healed the deep gash there.

"K-Kazekage-san" Sakura said with a hint of breathlessness as she dashed to the side, freeing herself from Gaara's radiating body heat. She formed hand signs and made the scroll she was holding disappear. "You were right when we were back in the hospital room." Sakura contemplated what she would reveal to the Kazekage, as he turned around folding his arms across his chest, as his face took on the deep searching look of studying her.

Sakura put her hand on the markings surrounding her belly button. "I've always wanted to be stronger, and somehow I've turned out to be so strong that a seal was placed on the rest of my power. After I died and woke up in the Kohonagakure hospital the person who I use to be... I don't think I'm her anymore, I'm full of hatred, envy, and I want revenge. I thirst to know that I'm stronger than everyone I meet. The first person I fought who was weaker than me, before this seal, I killed her. I-I love Kohonagakure, but there I'm incompetent, replaceable, and weak, and anywhere else I'm a monster. When I fought you, I didn't use the attack I wanted to, because if we were close enough it would have wiped your village out."

Sakura looked up from her stomach, and was expecting Gaara's eyes to glare at her with judgmental hatred. She knew that she didn't have to tell him any of what she told him, but she needed someone to confide in. She would never tell him about Shigakure, or her allegiance to the village.

"Who am I to judge? You have killed one to my many." Gaara said meeting Sakura's gaze with one eyebrow raised.

"I didn't know it was a contest." Sakura said feeling her lips rise in a slight grin.

"Are you a Jinchu-"

"No. There isn't anything inside of me." Sakura thought about Inner-Sakura and how they had become one. "I've become one with what's always been a part of me…Inner-Sakura." Sakura let her green eyes become red as her nails and canines elongated. "I don't have any tails either." Sakura said letting her red eyes fade to green as her nails and canines went back to normal length. "I've had a seal inside of me all of my life, dying is what made me what I am now, and what lead to this second seal. The other part of me was sealed in a cage behind a black door inside of me."

"You're a Jinchuuriki Sakura."

"I have a mission to complete that involves me taking a scroll from your village that had belonged to Lady Chiyo." Sakura said folding her arms across her chest bindings while trying to change the subject.

"That would explain why Shukaku didn't want to harm you." Gaara said walking closer to Sakura.

"But he wanted to harm Naruto who is a Jinchuuriki." Sakura said frowning as Gaara invaded her personal space.

"Naruto isn't a woman." Gaara said touching the seal on Sakura's stomach.

"You can't admit that the high and mighty Kazekage is actually a real boy, with feelings. You explain away your attraction to me, by saying it is Shukaku. Shukaku is gone Gaara-san, what's your excuse now?" Sakura asked backing away just to have Gaara advance once more.

Gaara's eyes momentarily closed at the sound of Sakura saying his name.

"Stop acting weird! Baka!" Sakura yelled as she punched Gaara through the sand tomb and on top of his bed. The rest of the sand tomb collapsed around her, and Sakura found herself in momentary shock at the sound of a quick chuckle coming from Gaara, as he flipped out of the bed and used a sand whip to toss her onto the bed. She landed with a large intake of breath from the impact.

"You need a scroll that belongs to Sunagakure, for use in another village. I will not allow you to take village secrets outside of my village." Gaara said calmly, his face back in the calm, cool mask of Kazekage.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the split second shift the Kazekage pulled into business mode, but she was glade he stopped acting like he liked her. Sakura rolled out of the bed and faced Gaara.

"I am giving you a chance to hand over what I need. I can always take it by force, or discretely. Besides you made a deal with me right before I kicked your ass in the desert.

"Temari-chan is on the warpath Gaa-"

Sakura watched as Kankuro stood transfixed in the door way at the scene before him. Sakura could almost imagine the things that went floating through his mind at the moment: A half-dressed, filthy missing-nin, a chuckling known lunatic Kazekage who looks worse for ware, all in said Kazekage's room.

**Author's Note: Nope Sakura isn't a Jinchuuriki. Until next time! Which hopefully isn't that far away. **


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note: Howdy, for some reason when I first uploaded this chapter some of the story and my note was cut out. So here is the second upload 12/7/12.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Thank you for your reviews and continued reading.

"Temari-chan is on the warpath Gaa-"

Sakura watched as Kankuro stood transfixed in the door way at the scene before him. Sakura could almost imagine the things that went floating through his mind at the moment: A half-dressed, filthy missing-nin, a chuckling known lunatic Kazekage who looks worse for ware, all in said Kazekage's room.

"W-wha What's going on here Gaara? Haruno Sakura, You're alive." Kankuro managed to get out, still transfixed in shock as his eyes wandered back and forth between a blushing Sakura and a calm Gaara.

"Goddamit, get out of my way, I'm going to see my brother!" Temari's voice echoed from outside of the room.

"We have been given orders by the Kazekage-sama to not allow any visitors." Another voice responded to Temari in the hallway.

Temari didn't respond back, the only sound given in reply was a loud swoosh of wind before the sound of bodies thudding into the wall.

"Shit!" Kankuro exclaimed as he rushed to the door of Gaara's room and slammed it shut, locking it and then pressing his back against the locked door. "I came here to tell you that after hearing a rumor that the missing-nin from Kohonagakure was herem Temari-chan became suspicious. Then you kept disappearing to kami knows where, and now you return and no one has seen you in days. Temari knows how you like your space, but she has finally had enough. She cares about you, and she hates your guts." Kankuro said the last part while giving Sakura a crooked grin. "I never got to thank you by the way for saving my life Haruno-san." Kankuro began just to be interrupted by a soft knocking on Gaara's door.

"Gaara-kun I just want to make sure you're alright." Temari said on the other side of the door, her voice sounding calmer.

"Kun?" Sakura whispered to Gaara with a smirk on her face. "You look more like a chan to me."

Gaara's response was to give Sakura the bird, making Sakura stick her tongue out at him childishly.

Sakura looked back at a silent Kankuro, and found that he was giving her and his brother a surprised look.

"I'm fine." Gaara responded calmly though loudly, making sure Temari heard him.

"I'll believe it when I see it. Kankuro I'm giving you a warning, move your sorry ass away from this door before I blow splinters of wood up your ass." Temari growled out from the other side.

"Bite me." Kankuro responded back.

Sakura eyed the balcony. She would have to leave this room if she didn't want Temari to discover just how true the rumors of her being in Sunagakure were. She could very well hide somewhere in the room, but in her filthy state Temari being the bitch that she is would probably be able to smell her out.

Gaara must have guessed that Sakura was planning her escape, because he sand-tombed her ass quicker than she could form hand signs to teleport away.

Sakura heard Kankuro give a small sound of alarm at seeing her put into a sand tomb.

"Open the door." Gaara said.

"I can break out of here!" Sakura yelled, but quieted down when she heard the door open, and

Temari walk in.

"Why are you covered in blood?" Temari asked in a worried motherly tone.

"What I don't get a hug too sis? You haven't seen me since an hour ago." Kankuro's voice floated into the tomb.

"Kankuro don't you have some skirt to chase?" Temari yelled.

"No. I find being here way more entertaining."

"I don't need you to coddle me." Came Gaara's calm voice, breaking up what Sakura guessed could have been a small two sibling war.

"I was out sparring for the pass days…and thinking." Gaara told his lie equally calm as before.

'More like getting his ass handed to him, and screaming.' Sakura thought amused.

"Sparring with whom?" Temari's voiced asked.

"The sand." Gaara answered.

"W-why do you have a sand tomb in your room? Is there anyone in there?" Temari asked her tone becoming suspicious. "Rumors are going around that the Godaime's missing-nin apprentice has been seen here I Sunagakure."

'Maybe I should teleport out of here.' Sakura thought before deciding that she would very much like to see Gaara talk his way out of Temari searching the sand tomb. She closed her eyes and started to relax, just to have her eyes snap open at the feeling of something circling the seal on her stomach. Sakura reached a hand to her stomach and felt a thin tendril of sand circling her marking. Her seal was one of the most sensitive places on her body, and the sensations of the sand tendrils touching her like that almost made a moan come from her lips.

'What the fuck does the Kazekage think he's doing?" Sakura thought fuming.

More tendrils of sand came down from the top of the tomb to slither up and down the sides of Sakura's neck. Sakura covered her neck with her hands as she blushed.

'He really has lost his mind.' The rough sandy tendrils that had been causing tickling sensations on Sakura's neck took a bold downward lung that had Sakura ready to shout bloody murder as they slide across her chest bindings.

"Gaara-kun are you alright?" Temari asked.

"Gaara-kun, are you alright?" Temari asked.

'He won't be for long if he keeps it up.' Sakura thought frowning as she sunk her teeth into her bottom lip to keep from making any sounds.

"I am fine. Why are you here?" Gaara's calm voice echoed through the room as he was met with a long silence.

Sakura pondered if all three of the sand siblings were having a silent staring showdown.

"I know you've been keeping to yourself a lot lately, but I'm still your sister Gaara-kun, and I care about you. I've received some news about the missing Kohonagakure medic-nin, and that's why I came to see if you're alright." Temari said softly, causing Sakura to strain her ears to hear.

"Is that all?" Gaara asked calmly, as a sand tendril wrapped around Sakura's upper thighs attempting to spread her legs apart.

Sakura sent Chakra to her legs to keep them close as she shot Gaara the middle finger, knowing he wouldn't see it through the sand, but still doing the gesture for good measure.

"I know she's in Sunagakure, and I've notified her village!" Temari's voice yelled.

Sakura's eyes widened as she felt a sharp angry spike in Gaara's chakra as his sand tendrils stopped in mid-caress.

"You did what? What makes you think she's even here?" Kankuro asked sounding upset.

"Gaara-kun what is in your sand tomb?" Temari asked.

"I am the Kazekage. You are not allowed to inform outsiders of events occurring within the walls of Sunagakure, or anything pertaining to Sunagakure without my authorization." Gaara said in a menacing voice.

"Naruto-san is he an outsider? The missing-nin was an apprentice to the Godaime of Kohonagakure, our ally. They have a right to know." Temari fumed.

"Sis, I know you hate her guts, but I think your crossing a line here. Gaara might be our little brother, but he is still our Kage. Just because Shukaku is-" Kankuro stopped talking as Gaara spoke.

"Get out."

As fun as playing hideaway in Gaara's sand tomb was. Temari was pissing Sakura off by the second. Sakura didn't know when Temari informed her village that she was in Sunagakure. Seeing her teammates or her Kage or worst being brought in under charges of deserting her village would hinder of mission.

'Shit!' Sakura fumed mentally as she infused her fist with chakra, and punched her way out of Gaara's sand tomb, and landing on her feet to face Temari who had her fan weapon of choice drawn out.

"Hello Temari-san?" Sakura said Temari smirking at the wide-eyed look on Temari's face as she eyed her state of dress and then looked back at her Kage brother in confusion before looking at Sakura again.

"Why are you in Sunagakure? How are you alive?" Temari asked Sakura between gritted teeth.

Sakura eyes shifted to look at Gaara who was sending her a glare.

"Gaara-sama promised me a bath and for that reason, I am still alive, but I guess that Gaara-sama will not be able to help me bathe." Sakura said smirking as she walked over to Kankuro. "Kankuro-san will you help me?" Sakura asked pouting as she quickly wrapped her arm around Kankuro's arm as she formed hand signs and teleported away with the shocked shinobi. Briefly she could have sworn that she had heard an irritated sound come from the red-headed Kazekage that they had left behind.

Kohonagakure might know her whereabouts but she would die in her own filth if she didn't get a bath.

After teleporting Sakura reappeared with a stunned Kankuro in a deserted moon lite alleyway. Sakura pulled away from Kankuro, bowing shortly. "Kankuro-san it has been awhile, please forgive my appearance, I have been through a lot lately." Sakura said blushing slightly after realizing how expose she was. 'Gaara, that jackass!' Sakura fumed mentally as she brought a hand to the side of her chest bindings to hold up the meager material that Gaara had somehow managed to rip during their fight.

"Ano…" Underneath the face paint Sakura noticed a blush coloring Kankuro's cheeks as he quickly shifted his gaze to Sakura's face.

"I brought you with me because I am in desperate need of a bath and a change of clothes. Would you please take me to a bath?" Sakura asked quietly.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital?" Kankuro's brows furrowed in concern, and Sakura found herself feeling speechless as the concern for her wellbeing that she saw there. It's been so long since anyone has showed genuine concern for her wellbeing, without blood and pain being involved. Why did Kankuro care?

"I'm fine. I am a medic-nin after all." Sakura responded.

"So the rumors were true. Did Gaara…did he do anything to you." Kankuro asked with hesitance, seeming to fear the answer she would give.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. As if Gaara could do anything to her that she didn't want done. "Iie. Gaara didn't cost any of my bruises and injuries, he actually saved me. If you don't mind I would really appreciate you taking me to a bath." Sakura said wanting to change the subject.

"Yeah, though I'm guessing you don't want to be seen so you'll want a private bath and not the public one. I owe you my life Haruno so I am at your service; just don't let Temari-chan or our Kazekage know that." Kankuro said frowning as he eyed Sakura's disheveled appearance before giving her a slight smile.

"I am a shinobi Kankuro-san, I wouldn't be seen in the public bath, if I didn't want to be seen; Though I'll go to any bath you have in mind right about now."

"Fair enough." Kankuro said holding his hands up in mock surrender. "But you might not realize just how high on the missing-nin list you are. You were kidnapped right in front of your Kage. The search for you-" Kankuro trailed off after watching Sakura rub off a patch of dried blood on her shoulder. "Follow me Haruno." Kankuro said jumping up to a short rooftop above them.

"I have a friend who isn't a shinobi, and could care less about shinobi affairs, plus her place has a bath."

Sakura jumped up to the roof and let Kankuro lead the way as she pondered if she could trust that the shinobi before her wasn't leading her to a trap.

**45 MINUTES LATER**

Sakura sighed hugging her knees to her chest as she soaked in a hot bubble bath after taking a long shower. She had scrubbed herself until the water going down the drain no longer ran brown from the filth and caked on dry blood that marred her flesh, and afterwards she used a lavender scented bubble bath that Kankuro's friend had stashed beneath her sink.

When Kankuro had said that his friend was unconcerned with the shinobi world that was an understatement. The woman who appeared to be in her late teens, early twenties was a pacifist who hated violence in any form, and didn't agree with the violence that was synonymous with the shinobi world and yet, Sakura noticed that Ami seemed to not mind Kankuro's presence. Ami even fussed over him, asking if he had eaten yet. After fussing over Kankuro, Ami eventually laid eyes on Sakura, and she gasped and quickly pulled her inside her modest sand toned apartment. Sakura was a complete stranger to the woman yet she fussed over her like a mother would an injured child.

Ami constantly tucked strands of her shoulder length black hair behind her ears as her brown eyes carefully scanned Sakura for injuries beneath the filth. Sakura had laughed when Ami-san put her hands on her ample hips and glared Kankuro into the kitchen as she ushered Sakura into her bedroom, shut the door, and began to unwrap Sakura's torn chest bindings before escorting her to the bathroom with a few towels.

Sakura wondered how Kankuro and Ami met. A shinobi and a pacifist as friends was odd. Everything in Sakura's life thus far had been odd, and she was sure that it would only get more odd and chaotic once she went back to demand that Gaara do as she say. That would definitely go over well, so well in fact that she would have to stretch after getting dress to prepare her limbs for Gaara's inevitable ass kicking.

'Years ago if someone would have told me as a genin that I would grow up to kick Gaara-san's ass on a regular basis, I would have thought they were insane and covered their mouth so no one else would here their crazy talk.' Sakura thought as she stretched her legs out and took in a large amount of air before submerging herself fully under the water, staring up at the bubbles that floated above her mixing with her pink hair. The soap stung her eyes slightly but it didn't really bother her. This moment was serene, it was peaceful…it all felt so normal.

'Is this what life was like for civilians?' Sakura pondered, before realizing that even beneath water, she was still a trained killing machine, and she was aptly aware of her environment and every little sound in the bathroom, even the life energy of the two people outside of the bathroom. Shinobi's are never really fully at ease, even when sleeping that awareness is still there. The only way a Shinobi can truly know rest is in death, but that didn't even apply to her now. Could she ever permanently die? How did Shigakure Shinobi die anyway? Not that she wanted to die.

'I won't allow death to take me until my reckoning is done.' Sakura reemerged from beneath the water, and stood climbing out of the tub and wrapping a towel around herself, before wrapping one around her long hair. She walked to the mirror over the sink and rubbed her hand across it to stare at her reflection. Pulling the towel from her hair, Sakura watched how it tumbled out of the towel was and she pondered if she should cut it to the length she had before her transformation in Shigakure.

**Knock.**

**Knock. **

"Eh, Haruno. Ami-chan is cooking some food. She gave me some of her sister's clothes for you." Kankuro's voice came from the other side of the door.

Sakura dropped the towel she had pulled from her hair to the sink, before securing the towel wrapped around her and going to the door to open it.

"Doomo Arigatou Gozaimasu Kankuro-san." Sakura bowed before taking the bundle of clothes that Kankuro held out for her.

"You shouldn't thank me, this is nothing really. You've been through a lot and I plan to find out what happened in that room in Kohonagakure. You might not realize it but you've earned an alley for whatever crazy mess you've fallen into." Kankuro said putting a hand through the door to ruffle Sakura's long wet hair.

Sakura blushed before a serious expression settled onto her features.

"Kankuro-san, saving lives is what I use to- Is what I do as the apprentice to the Godaime and a medic-nin. You aren't indebted to me. What I'm involved in, doesn't concern you." Sakura said staring Kankuro directly in his eyes. He wanted to help her, all because she saved his life. He didn't need to get involve with her life. Sakura didn't have any grudges against him.

"You'll find that not just Kankuro-kun is indebted to you. There are a lot of people who are about this knuckle-head in this sandy village of ours." Came Ami's voice from behind Kankuro.

"You know Ami for a civilian you have the stealth of a shinobi, I think you've missed your calling." Kankuro said turning around.

"And I think you're missing food tonight." Ami responded angrily stalking away with Kankuro on her heels.

Sakura closed the door and sighed, leaning her back against it as she unrolled the clothes and held them out before her. A pair of red pants made of a thin material and a black tank top with a roll of chest bindings and Sakura's washed and other personal things.

Once dressed, Sakura exited the bathroom with her hair in a high ponytail held up by a piece of chest binding she had cut and fastened into a hair tie.

Sakura followed the delicious smells pouring through the house into the kitchen, where she saw Kankuro sitting down in front of a bowel of what appeared to be curry.

"I'm glade the clothes fit you. You look about the size of Yumi-chan." Amy said turning around from the stove with a pair of long mixing chopsticks in her hands as she fried something in a separate pan.

"Doomo Arigatou Gozaimau Ami-san for all of your help." Sakura said bowing deeply.

Ami smiled. "It's nothing really. I'm use to Kankuro-kun here using my place as Sunagakure's second hospital just because of my extensive medical knowledge."

"Are you a nurse or a doctor?" Sakura asked, curious.

"Officially no, and unofficially yes. I'm the people's nurse. I don't charge, I take donations, and I fix whatever ails you." Amy said proudly. "However, I wasn't there for Kankuro-kun, because news of his injury didn't get out to non-shinobi until after he was healed. I wanted to march up there and-"

"And annoy the hell out of Temari-chan with your speeches about the evils of the shinobi world. Why do you think Temari-chan goes to Kohonagakure so much? It's to avoid you." Kankuro said fanning his hot Curry with his hands.

"I won't stand idly by as people I care about are abused, murdered, or maimed." Amy fumed.

Sakura noticed Kankuro's cheeks heat up at the words 'care about.'

"I'm fine Ami-chan." Kankuro responded quietly.

"I don't think that the words thank you will be enough Haruno-san. So I extend my home to you whenever you are in need of a place to hide. Your missing-nin status is of no importance here." Amy said turning around as Kankuro choked on his Curry.

"How do you know about that!?" Kankuro shouted turning to stare up at the smiling unofficial doctor.

"Do you honestly think, that I wouldn't want to find out all that I can about the woman who saved your life? Honestly Kankuro-kun!"

"Yeah, Yeah, but that ain't what I'm asking. How did you find out?" Kankuro asked.

"You've known me since childhood and you know I have my ways and we'll leave it at that. Haruno-san please sit, your food is already on the table. I'm just frying up some eggs, since this one here likes eggs with his curry."

Sakura sat down in front of her food, and discreetly ran a chakra infused hand over it testing it for poison. "Itadakimasu!" Sakura exclaimed before digging into the poison free food.

After dinner Ami had asked Sakura to follow her to her bedroom to see if she liked any of the never before worn panties she had. Kankuro had, had an instant nose bleed as Sakura and Ami entired her room and closed the door.

"So you've escaped Kohonagakure after being unceremoniously dumped by our beloved Kage." Ami said beloved with an eyeroll.

Sakura took a step back as her brows furrowed in confusion.

"What?" Sakura asked.

Ami answered her by pulling her skirt up to her waist and revealing a Shigakure forehead protector wrapped around her right thigh.

"This material is special, it can hide this." Ami said waving a hand over her forehead protector.

"But how?" Sakura asked, watching as Ami sent chakra to her hands that was completely black.

"You are not the only-hold on. Kankuro-kun get away from that door you pervert!" Ami yelled tapping her foot until she was sure Kankuro had retreated into the kitchen yelling.

"Okay, but I'm going to go check in on Gaara and Temari-chan. Pink, I'll be back if I can, if not you know where to find me. We'll probably be needing a medic-nin." Kankuro said, before going leaving the apartment.

"Pink?" Sakura asked aloud.

"He couldn't just yell out Haruno Sakura, but anyway the Kazekage is more perceptive than usual, thus the need for this material. I'm a permanent gatherer of rather- my-village-should-like-your-village information. I grew up here." Amy said continuing after a long pause staring at the door.

"How many are there of us in every village?" Sakura asked surprise still evident in her voice.

Ami held up two fingers. "Chiyo-sensei and myself…but since she is no longer here, It's just me."

"How did Kankuro know to bring me here to you?" Sakura asked suspicious.

"He didn't, but that's neither here or there. I hear you need Chiyo's scroll." Ami said.

"If you're here, then why didn't a certain Kage ask you to get it?" Sakura said gritting her teeth.

"He wants to make your life miserable. Under that harsh exterior lives-"

"A kind heart?" Sakura said rolling her eyes and crossing her arms in front of her chest before realizing how Gaara-esque her pose was, and putting her hands back at her sides.

"No, not really, just more harsh exterior and then a cold icy wall of warm malice."

"That's not surprising."

"You really don't like our Kage do you?" Amy asked staring at Sakura curiously.

"That is an understatement, but I'm loyal to Shigakure and will complete all of my missions regardless of my feelings toward our Kage." Sakura said as her eye twitched just thinking about her jackass of a Kage.

"Do you remember being a child and having the one boy who liked you pull your hair and say mean things?" Amy asked, sitting down on her bed and crossing one leg over another as she looked up at the ceiling.

"No, that never happened to me." Sakura responded as she briefly remembered being teased about her big forehead as a child.

"I wish all of us could have grew up together this time." Amy said wistfully.

"Nani?"

"Oh, nothing. The scroll is no longer in Sunagakure it was skillfully taken two nights ago by shinobi from your village."

"What!" Sakura yelled bawling her hands into fist.

"I was given strict orders not to interfere, that retrieval and protection of the scroll and it's secrets is the sole responsibility of a pink haired shinobi with a hellish temper."

"That bastard." Sakura fumed, knowing that Kentan wanted her to go to Kohonagakure for some reason unknown to her. He dropped her off in Kohonagakure, and now this unexpected news comes while she is in Sunagakure, to send her back to Kohonagakure. He's relentless!

"Please calm down, you don't want your temper to cause you to act reckless." Amy said standing up to face Sakura full on.

"Aren't you interfering by telling me that the scroll is no longer in Sunagakure?"

"No, I'm giving you a tip, that's not interfering…I think." Amy said putting a finger to her jaw as her eyes became spacey.

"So you're not really a pascifist?"

"I am. I live here to heal, and to watch Kankuro-kun. Chiyo-sensei was the Kazekage's guardian but on the unfortunate night of the Kage's kidnapping Chiyo failed. She gave her life for the Kazekage-sama, as a way to be forgiven for her mistake. My sensei was a very honorable woman." Amy said with a sad smile on her face.

"Why have you been ordered to watch Kankuro-san?" Sakura asked confused, and shocked to find out that lady Chiyo had an apprentice.

"Besides being in love with him, I watch Kankuro-kun because he has potential. I am to decide if I want to make him my student, and give him one of our well-earned forehead protectors." Ami sighed closing her brown eyes briefly.

Kankuro-san as a Shigakure shinobi, for some reason, Sakura couldn't see him fitting in, in such a cold dreary place.

"Traveling by his brother's side, Kankuro-kun has seen so much blood and destruction, and yet he has an inner innocence of hope and loyalty. He would never serve two villages like we do. He loves his little brother too much to betray his trust. All those years, everyone thought it was fear that kept Kankuro-kun by Kazekage-sama's side, when it has always been loyalty and an older brother's need to protect his younger brother. I am telling you this Haruno-san, in an effort to convince you not to accept Kankuro's offer of loyalty, and get him involved in the road that is ahead for you."

Sakura looked down at the floor, as she thought about Ami's words. Knowing that Shigakure shinobi went to various villages to recruit shinobi somehow lessened Sakura's experience with Riyou-sensei. If he hadn't picked her, then who else would have been the next choice? And if she failed as a Shigakure shinobi…who would they replace her with. She was still replaceable, still expendable, and not quite good enough like Naruto or Sasuke who are one of a kind. The transformation and the seal, were those things commonplace in Shigakure? Was she still nothing special, after all she had been through? Sakura tried her best to hide her tumultuous emotions before she calmly looked up at Ami.

"Is it common for shinobi becoming Shigakure shinobi to have a seal placed on them after their transformation?" Sakura asked as nonchalant as possible.

Ami gave Sakura a soft look. "No, not always. You don't know why Wrath-sama chose you, do you? You are exceptional. You have no idea how pathetic the shinobi world truly is, in every village there are the star players the shinobi who the village places on a pedestal because of their perceived strength. Teams of three are thought to have a strongest, less strong, and least strong and the least strong is often ridiculed for their weakness or pushed off to the side lines. As I was told, in team seven of Kohonagakure, Naruto-san and Sasuke-san were the strongest, the ones whom everyone focused their attentions. It took Sasuke's leaving for your village's eyes to turn to you and yet Wrath-sama saw you before any of them did. Shigakure shinobi are not replaceable." Amy took a deep breath and closed her eyes "There will never be another Chiyo-sensei. Our village knows of her greatness beyond saving the life of a Kage, but Sunagakure never will."

Ami didn't fully answer Sakura's question, but her there was something else that had caught her attention now. Why did shinobi from Shigakure call Riyou-sensei wrath? Lady Chiyo had called him Wrath before she died.

"Why is Riyou-sensei called Wrath?" Sakura asked after a long silence.

"Because of you." Ami said giving Sakura a soft look again as if that answer was answer enough.

"Because of me?" Sakura repeated confused.

"I really like being around you, but Chiyo-sama's scroll waits for no one. Before you go I want to give you this." Ami said quickly changing the subject as she turned around and walked to a drawer pulling out a black bundle.

"This are you real clothes that you were meant to receive in Kohonagakure from a friend of mine." Ami held out a bundle to a frowning Sakura. She wanted to question Ami-san further but didn't want to waste any more time than she had already, so she took the bundle of clothes.

"You must forgive me, but I changed the color. I find Shinobi who wear bright colored clothes to just be cocky. How your yellow-clad teammate never gets discovered and killed on a mission is a mystery to me. Go ahead, unfold them on my bed and take a look." Amy said smiling kindly.

Sakura unfolded the bundle of clothes on Ami's bed and stared with on eyebrow raised at the clothes before her. The clothes were entirely black, without an ounce of the red that Sakura was use to wearing.

"Why do shinobi in your village dress so colorful anyway while on missions?" Ami asked tilting her head to one side.

"Explain Kanari-chan's yellow." Sakura said, taking off her clothes and putting on pants that resembled the same pants she had on but except they were black.

"There are a few people in our village that can't appreciate the classic stealth that all black provides, but they'll learn someday." Ami said as her eye twitched in annoyance.

"Why aren't you in black now?" Sakura asked while pulling a long sleeved hooded shirt over her head that covered the symbols on her stomach.

"My mission doesn't require the same level of stealth that yours will. You're taking back what's ours from ANBU Roots Division."

Sakura finished dressing, and felt slightly uncomfortable being so covered up.

"The hood. Your pink hair is very noticeable and identifying where you're going." Ami said receiving a glare from Sakura as Sakura put on the hood.

"Here are your ninja shoes and a breathable face material that will cover your mouth and nose. Please put the shoes on outside. I have to keep a hygienic unofficial clinic you know." Ami smiled sweetly at Sakura.

"Oh and before I forget! Here is your mission stroll that our Kage in his haste forgot-"

"Neglected." Sakura said crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"To give you." Ami finished, waiting until Sakura put her face mask on, before handing her, her scroll in her free hand."

Sakura opened the scroll with one hand, and read it.

"That bastard!" Sakura growled out before closing the scroll.

"What did it say?" Ami asked wide-eyed and alarmed.

"Thank you very much Ami-san for all of your help." Sakura managed to get out before forming hand signs and destroying the scroll in a blast of flames. Sakura quickly formed hand signs again and teleported to Ami's rooftop, quickly putting on her ninja sandals.

"He put a time limit on the mission, and now…that bastard." Sakura fumed. She would have liked to have seen Gaara again before she left, because he was still indebted to her by contract, well she would have to come back in the future if she needed his help. After teleporting two times, Sakura found herself at Sunagakure's gate, hiding in the shadows. Smirking Sakura produced a kunai and cut across the tips of her fingers, quickly drawing the kanji tattooed on Gaara's forehead, and below it writing: _I think I look good in red too, but not as good as you do_. Sakura produced a Kunai hilt, and threw it at the back of a Sunagakure's shinobi's head before giving off a loud whistle. She waited until ten shinobi stood before her armed and threatening her to surrender, making sure they saw the marking on the wall, before she formed hand signs and teleported away.

Sakura let out a short laugh as she landed in the middle of nothing but sand, with Sunagakure far in the moonlit distance behind her. Annoying Gaara was always a good way to lighten her mood, Sakura decided as she took off in a fast run towards Kohonagakure with her arms outstretched behind her, enjoying the wind as it blew her hood from her head, and caressed her pink hair.

Going back to Kohonagakure after what felt like such a long time, didn't bring her as much joy as she thought she would feel. Kohonagakure was filled with countless reminders of why she distanced herself away from the Sakura that Sasuke-kun had called weak. Whenever she would go on a mission and return, Sakura found herself going through the motions of what everyone expected of her. The fake smiles, the ramen dates. It all irritated her. The waiting, the constant delaying of her desires to be the greatest shinobi that had ever graced the shinobi world. If she didn't release her pent-up emotions through punching Naruto or anyone who said something even mildly offensive, she was sure she would have gone insane when she was still a genin and under Riyou-sensei's training. Fighting, screaming, and causing pain that made her feel alive…because at least the shinobi laying beneath her with a kunai in their chest became aware of how weak they were.

That logic didn't really apply to Sunagakure's Kazekage. Gaara was defeated, she could have killed him if she wanted, but he was different. If Sakura never came across anyone else who really understood her again, she could at least say that one annoying red head understood her. They had a connection, but it was dangerous. Playing with and taunting the Kazekage was one thing, developing feelings for him was another, and Sakura didn't want to find out just how well they fit together. She made progress with getting Gaara to stop pretending and let out his bloodlust and rage that everyone considered unfit for a Kazekage but perfect for a child that they could send on missions to kill whom they pleased. She liked Gaara, but Sasuke-kun, Naruto, and Kakashi came first, and the Kazekage would only get in her way.


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Note: Thank you everyone for your reviews. I know that I have not updated in a really long time. Hopefully I still have readers *looks around*.

Caution: This chapter contains slight citrus.

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto.

'Twelve splinters.' Sakura mused, slowly sliding her hand across the wooden gate of Kohonagakure. Sakura remained carefully masked in the dark-shadowed spots of the gate that the slivers of moon light didn't touch. The gate somehow seemed larger than life in that moment, like a tomb…her tomb. No, she wouldn't die in Kohona tonight, but the Sakura that passed through the wooden gates for countless Kohonagakure missions, the kunoichi whose loyalty belonged to the Kage behind the wooden gates was dying.

Sakura closed her splintered hand into a fist frowning, before opening her hand again and forming hand signs to teleport. When Sakura appeared again, she was outside on the balcony of her sensei's office, in the Kage tower.

'Now to find out where those bastards are hiding.' Sakura again hid in the shadows as she looked through Tsunade's window. She knew the chance of Tsunade sensing her presence was high, but if she was anything like the Tsunade she had known months ago, she should be drunk and passed out somewhere down the hall, with a bottle of sake clutched tightly in one hand. Maybe a distraction would serve Kohonagakure well. Before Sakura could figure out what that distraction was going to be a loud explosion sounded behind her and she spun around on the tips of her toes, while crouched on the balcony ledge, and frowned as the orange glow of flames met her gaze, from a burning building in the distance.

"What the hell?" Sakura said lowly, forming Kunai, as another building exploded. The village couldn't be under attack the same night she returned could it?

"Fuck." Sakura felt torn. As a Kohona shinobi she should run to defend her village; however the explosion was a perfect distraction for her to go into Tsuande's office and gather the information on ANBU Roots her sensei kept 'hidden' in a secret chakra sealed compartment on her sake shelf. As the lights in the room went out all of a sudden, Sakura made her choice and teleported into the room.

The lights came back on, and Sakura found herself face to white animal mask with a pale skinned, bare mid-drift shinobi. The shinobi held a blade aimed at her.

Sakura threw a dark-mattered kunai at the shinobi's head, and smirked as he dodged while she side-stepped out of the way of his weapon.

They circled around each other, until Sakura decided she was sick of playing around, and lunged at him, attacking him with a flurry of fist and kicks, while managing to take his blade from him and launch it across the room, to pierce a wall.

"Stay down." Sakura said as she threw kunai and used her spider web no jutsu to trap the shinobi in place with her chakra strings, before running up to him and punching him hard enough to break his mask and bang his head against the wall behind him.

"Kami if that didn't alert the entire building to a break-in, in Tsunade-sama's office than nothing would." Sakura whispered before quickly going to Tsunade's hiding place for all things ANBU Roots concerned. She formed hand signs to break the seal placed on the compartment. Sakura quickly looked over the documents until she found the ones listing the supposed hideouts for ANBU Roots division. Sakura grabbed the papers and folded them before tucking them away into her chest bindings. She turned around and stopped in her tracks as the mask that she had cracked, broke completely from the pale shinobi's face to reveal a Kohonagakure forehead protector on his forehead; however that wasn't what made Sakura's breath catch in her throat.

"Sasuke?" Sakura breathed out. No it couldn't be. Sakura walked up to the passed out bleeding shinobi, and held his face in her hands, staring at him closely. He wasn't Sasuke but the resemblance was jarring.

Sakura pulled her hands away from the shinobi's face as he groaned and began to open his eyes. She knew she should hurry up and leave, but she needed to see this look-a-like's eyes.

The shinobi gave her a blank emotionless look, with the same black as coal eyes as her old teammate, but they didn't hold the anger and emotion that Sasuke's had…the person behind the eyes before her seemed to be dead inside.

"You're not him." Sakura whispered, snapping back to her senses, as she punched the wall beside the shinobi's head in frustration. What was wrong with her?

Sakura angrily grabbed the shinobi's head again, and quickly healed the deep bleeding gash she had placed in his skull. When she let him go, he continued to stare blankly at her.

"If I didn't knock you stupid, let this be a lesson to not fuck with me…or Kohonagakure." Sakura growled out before forming hands signs and reappearing back outside the gates of Kohona. She was a traitor and she had encountered another traitor in her Kage's office who looked so much like the boy she had grew up loving and then hating.

She found her vision blurred with tears as she ran through the forest, instead of in the direction of the explosions. She ran as fast as she could towards the location of the underground tunnel that would lead her to the ANBU Root's division's hideout; which happened to be underneath the village. Sakura ignored the shouts of the shinobi who had spotted her outside of the gate.

She had made her choice… but why did it hurt so much?

Sakura found herself growling as her nails and canines elongated, and her eyes burned red.

Seeing the blood of a Kohonagakure shinobi on a Kohona forehead protector… she had said that she would never do what Sasuke did, that she would never be like him in her quest for power, but here she was betraying Kohona for Shigakure.

'But that shinobi had broken into Tsunade's office.' A voice whispered in Sakura's mind.

The closer Sakura got to the location of the entrance to the tunnel, the slower her pace became as she found herself surrounded by the shinobi she once would have called her allies.

'Aren't they still my allies? I still love Kohonagakure… I'd never-' Sakura was prematurely broken from her thoughts at the shout of one of the shinobi surrounding her.

"Who are you, and why did you attack this village?"

Shockingly lifting her head to take her eyes off of the blood on her hands her red eyes scanned the shinobi, and attempted to casually look past two she instantly recognized.

Sakura didn't respond, knowing that someone was bound to recognize her voice. She felt lucky to have red eyes at the moment, instead of her trademark emerald eyes. Ami was right about the hood to cover her pink hair.

Sakura quickly wiped her tears away.

'Keep your hands where they can be seen!' One of the younger shinobi yelled.

Sakura ignored the shinobi and turned her back to them, as she began walking away, hoping to get enough time to form the hand signs she needed to disappear; however that hope was dashed as senbon soared through the air and Sakura quickly spun rapidly to her left to dodge, landing in a split, facing the female shinobi that had thrown the senbon.

The weapon mistress Tenten seemed to be low on patience. Sakura wondered why, as her eyes briefly went to Lee. One teammate was missing though.

"What business do you have in Kohonagakure villain?!" Lee shouted.

Sakura calmly stood back up to her full height, taking deep breaths to keep her rising bloodlust at bay.

'They are not my enemies!' Sakura mentally yelled at herself, as she found herself forming dark-mattered kunai.

"Who are you!?" Lee demanded.

At Lee's words Sakura's eyes widened as a plan began to form in her head, of how to get the scroll she needed, and get back into her village as Haruno Sakura and not as a missing-nin.

Focusing on changing her voice as much as possible, Sakura thought of the most evil bastardly person she knew, and channeled his personality.

"Though the explosions were impressive handiwork, they were not my handiwork. I just happened to be in your village at the wrong time." Sakura said in a Kentan-esque voice.

"Why are you here? Who sent you?"

Chuckling, Sakura answered. "As many times as I've been here in your village, everyone should know me. That just proves how great of a shinobi I am, or it proves how shitty all of you are.

A shinobi behind Sakura made an angry sound in their throat.

"I am a collector of bitches…strong ones with lovely secrets."

'That sounds like something that bastard would say' Sakura smirked. "I just left your Kage's place, to see if she had anymore apprentices to steal or kill. The first one-" Sakura stopped to watch as a few of the shinobi's eyes around her widened in understanding of where she was going with her conversation. "Well I was told to kill her, and bring her body back to my boss, but she somehow didn't die. Isn't that funny?"

"Sakura." Lee whispered, as his hands bawled up into fist, and his eyes watered.

"I thought with all of the holes my allies and I put through her she'd be dead. She survived, and I decided to keep her, until she broke her chains, and the rest is history." Sakura finished, back flipping up in the air as not only Lee and Tenten, but the other shinobi around her lunged at her in a full out attack on."

As Sakura avoided their attacks, she laughed. "If you want her, you can have her…what's left of her anyway in the Wind country's desert.

"You monster!" Lee yelled landing a roundhouse kick to Sakura's stomach, sending her into a tree trunk. Rolling on her side Sakura quickly formed the signs needed to form a dark-mattered chakra clone, as she rolled out of the way of a mace to her throat. She ran off further into the forest, ignoring the pain from the tree branches that cut into her flesh, as she formed hand signs and teleported to rest in a tree, forming a genjutsu to camouflage herself further in the lush green leaves of the tree, while hiding her chakra. The rest was up to her clone.

CLONE'S POV

Clone Sakura held no qualms about attacking, the shinobi attacking her. Hey they attacked first.

Forming a dark-mattered Katana Clone Sakura knocked one of the shinobi to the ground with the hilt of the katana.

"So fucking weak." Clone Sakura growled making sure to disguise her voice like her original did. "The pink-haired one is beaten and bruised but she should still be breathing a little in the genjutsu I hid her in." "I'll take you to her, in exchange for the scroll that attracted my boss to her in the first place." Clone Sakura growled as the shinobi continued to attack her.

"Enough!" The clone yelled summoning dark-mattered kunai and preforming a spider web no jutsu to pin the annoying shinobi to trees. Clone Sakura watched pleased as the kunai went through a thigh, arm, or hand of a shinobi and then into the wood of a tree, with a string of chakra attached sufficiently pinning them to trees.

"Do you want her or not?"

"What have you done to her?"

The clone spun around to face the new arrival. Kakashi. He looked so tired, and had a slight limp in one leg as he walked up from the shadows.

"I see a cat has gotten your tongue. The scroll I require is in the possession of ANBU Roots. It's the scroll that holds the secrets to bring the dead back to life. Unfortunately they stole it from Sunagakure before I could." The clone straightened her posture to stand with her hands on her hips, as she gave the wolfish shinobi an impatient look.

"Did you have anything to do with the attacks that occurred here tonight?" Kakashi asked calmly, as he studied the clone with a piercing look that disturbed Clone Sakura more than she wanted to admit.

'If I claim that I am responsible for the attacks that could work in my advantage, but since I don't know about the full extent of those attacks it might be a bad idea to claim them.' "No, unfortunately I can't claim those lovely explosions as my own. As much as I would like to participate in your interrogation I need an answer. Can you provide me with the scroll or not?"

"I don't know what Sakura has gotten herself involved in-" Kakashi was interrupted by the clone.

"Your kunoichi was forcefully taken-" This time Kakashi interrupted.

"Sakura is stronger than any of us has ever given her credit for. She accomplished the unthinkable by escaping death. I find it hard to believe that someone as stubborn and bullheaded as the shinobi that I watched grow up was defeated by someone like you."

The clone's eyes momentarily widened as Kakashi began to close the distance between them. "And if she wasn't defeated-"

Clone Sakura felt herself panicking at the thought that Kakashi knew that she had betrayed her village. 'He can't know. No one from Kohonagakure knows.' Clone Sakura put a dark-mattered kunai to her throat.

"Are you implying that your kunoichi came willingly to my master and I?"

Lee gasped. Clone Sakura couldn't tell if it was in a gasp of horror or outrage.

"I am not implying anything. Sakura is not a traitor she wouldn't be dumb enough to make the same mistake that a teammate of hers made years ago."

"You are wasting my time. It is beyond obvious that you can't give me what I require." The clone pressed the kunai closer to her throat, slicing through the material there and drawing blood. She noticed Kakashi stop advancing, and stare at the kunai with a frown.

"Don't look so surprised." Clone Sakura said bitterly. "Failure to please my master, and return with the scroll means that I mustn't return at all. I guess that also means that you won't be seeing your kunoichi either."

"Wait." Kakashi said.

"I've waited long enough. If you somehow come across the scroll, maybe my master will be lenient and let you have the kunoichi's body for burial."

"You will have your scroll by sunrise!"

Clone Sakura looked behind and up into the foliage of a tree where Shizune crouched, angrily watching her.

"And who are you to make that type of promise to me?" Clone Sakura asked looking back down at Kakashi when she noticed his hand start to move to one of the pockets of his green vest.

"You sonofabitch!" Shizune yelled as if barely managing to restrain herself from jumping down and unleashing all of her restrained emotion.

"Calm down." Kakashi yelled back to Shizune, while not taking his eyes off of a disguised Clone Sakura.

"I can't promise your precious kunoichi will be alive when you exchange the scroll for her, but I can promise that there will be enough of her left for a funeral. When you have the scroll hang a blue cloth from a balcony of the Kage tower."

With those words the clone let her energy disperse and go back to the Original.

Sakura steadied herself as her clone's memories poured into her head. She found herself shaking her head in disbelief at her clone's antics, before the memory of the way Kakashi looked at her clone caused her to feel unsettled. She wasn't fully ready to admit what she had become, so the idea that Kakashi could somehow look through her masquerade made her feel as if she had to vomit.

Using her trembling hands to form hand signals, Sakura teleported as far as her ability could take her in one go. She repeated the hand signs until she found herself on a familiar balcony, as the sun began its ascent in the sky behind her.

Feeling unsettled and slightly distraught, Sakura hadn't realize where she teleported until rough tendrils of sand caressed her cheek before wrapping around her waist and pulling her down, and pressing her forcibly against a wall.

"Just because you're a Kage now little brother, and your slightly off your rocker, doesn't mean that I won't try to defend myself when you attack me! I'm not letting you go back to how you were before Nar-What happened to her?" Sakura heard the angry voice of Kankuro turn concerned as he stepped from out of the door beside her.

Sakura's eyes opened widely as she really focused on her surroundings. In her emotional upset, she had teleported herself back to Kohonagakure, and outside of Gaara's bedroom. Where the red head and his brother must have been having a heated argument if the blood trailing down Kankuro' split lip, and his swollen eye was anything to go by.

She looked away from Kankuro when she felt a rough hand cup her cheek. Gaara's teal eyes studied her.

"I-I." Sakura stuttered, not sure what she wanted to say. "Why did I come back here?" Sakura gave Gaara a helpless look as she asked him this.

"I need to leave." Sakura tried to pry her body free from the sand. Gaara's response to her struggles was to sand tomb her. While in the sand cocoon Sakura tried to listen to the muffled voices of Gaara and Kankuro, but found she couldn't make out anything but angry whispers and finally a closing door. Once the door closed, the sand tomb unraveled and Sakura fell onto Gaara's bed with a bounce.

"I don't like the new look." Gaara pulled the hood from Sakura's head, and the mask from her face, as he hovered above her staring into her still emerald eyes.

"I don't give a rat's ass what you like." Sakura half-heartedly retorted back.

"I received the message that you left my on the Village's gate." Gaara smirked, combing a hand through Sakura's silky strands, while the other hand touched the kanji on his forehead. "You have impressive calligraphy skills."

Sakura briefly closed her eyes at the compliment and sighed at the feeling of Gaara messaging her scalp with one hand. It was so soothing.

"Were you impressed with my calligraphy skills Kazekage? Or were you just mesmerized by the sight of my blood on your gate?" Sakura felt the tension leave her body, just to have it return the moment she felt Gaara's warm lips brush against hers. This tension was a different kind of tension from the one she felt after going back to Kohona. Sakura found herself wanting to wash away the emotions that the events in her village inspired in her, so she let herself drown in the bloodthirsty redhead's kiss, as she caught his lips with hers.

The Kazekage straddled Sakura's hips with a leg on either side of her, then he entangled both of his hands in her pink hair as he kissed her senseless and breathless. Sakura had never been kissed in such a way, ever. When Gaara pulled away to stare down into her eyes the ability to think returned to her, she wondered how Gaara learned to kiss like that. Gaara had blood on his mouth, causing Sakura to finally notice the stinging of pain on her bottom lip. He had bit her.

Licking the blood from his lips, Gaara gave Sakura a hungry look, that caused her stomach to flutter and her cheeks to ignite in a burst of red heat. The Kazekage looked bloodthirsty in a way, but a part of Sakura…a part of her that she never encountered knew that he didn't have her death in mind.

"Ano." Sakura breathed out, as Gaara leant back and trailed his eyes down her body, tilting his head to one side as a look of confusion mixed with his hungry look.

"Your blood isn't enough." Sakura knew it was a statement, but the way Gaara said it, it sounded like a question.

"N-nani?"

"I want more of you." Gaara spoke calmly, as if saying something so perverse was common and acceptable.

Momentarily dizzy from the rush of blood to her head, Sakura felt her body shudder. She tried to look anywhere besides at Gaara, her eyes locked with the sunrise pouring in through the open balcony door. It was as if the dream broke and reality cruelly rushed in as she allowed herself to remember that her village was to have the scroll she required ready for retrieval by sunrise.

"I shouldn't have come here." Sakura whispered. "I don't know why I let my emotions get the better of me. I was too naïve to realize that I couldn't have what I desire without giving up parts of myself. I wanted to believe that I could destroy the people who hurt me, and keep the part of me that matters the most: Kohonagakure."

"Why are you telling me this Sakura?" Gaara growled out, pressing his forehead against hers. "Every word you speak sounds like treason. I am still a Kage, and Kohonagakure is still Sunagakure's alley."

It was stupid of her. Why did she allow herself to feel this way in his presence? Was it natural for two monsters to seek each other out? Trying to embrace their true nature, but at the same time showing each other the vulnerable rays of humanity that still lurked within their wicked depths.

"You are, aren't you?" This time when Sakura spoke the sadness was gone, having a resolute anger take its place, as she used chakra enhanced limbs to shove Gaara away from her and across the room, while she stood from the bed. Her back faced him, but when she didn't hear his body impact with the wall she knew his sand had caught him, or he somehow landed on his feet.

When Sakura turned to face Gaara he looked at her with his cool mask of Kazekage.

"Kazekage I have a mission for you today, and we leave immediately."

Gaara gave Sakura a challenging look.

"You are constantly forgetting that I have a village to run, and don't have time to run off and play your games." Gaara spoke calmly, as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Sakura let out a mirthless chuckle. "I defeated you Kazekage, and you have made a blood oaf to me. By all meanings of the word I am your Kage now. If you don't want to be obedient I'll just go to Kakuro-kun." Sakura watched as Gaara twitched and frowned at the way Sakura said his brother's name. "He helps me because he wants to. He doesn't ask for anything in return. I told him that I saved his life because it was my duty, and he owes me nothing, and yet he still persists." Sakura said with general fondness in her voice as the hard edge around her red eyes softened. Sakura didn't have enough time to brace herself as Gaara's sand wrapped around her upper and lower extremities and lifted her above the bed, before pressing her body flush against the now fuming Kazekage.

The red head groaned at the contact as Sakura gasped and stopped struggling once she felt something against her stomach that instantly caused her cheeks to redden again.

"You are as bad as Shukaku. Sakura, because of you I can't live a lie anymore. What has given you the idea, that after defeating me, and letting me taste you that you can go back to addressing me by my title? I'm the one you come to when you feel pain." Gaara tilted his head down to Sakura's ear and gave a chuckle of his own that spoke of the madness that lurked within the ex-demon holder. "You drew my kanji in your blood for my whole village to see." Gaara entangled a hand in Sakura's soft hair, sliding his lips across the wide eyed kunoichi's face. "You know what this kanji means, don't you Sakura?" The Kazekage asked as he pulled away from her and untangled his hand from her hair to bring it to his forehead.

"Do you know what this means?" Gaara demanded.

Sakura stared at the Kanji for love that Gaara held his bangs aside to show her, the look on her face was somber.

"I've only ever loved one person before, and that person was Sasuke-kun, and I will see him again someday."

'And I will make him feel things he has never felt before.' Sakura thought darkly.

Gaara developed a faraway look on his face as if trying to recall an image.

"And I don't think I can love anyone else right now. I only love revenge and that brings power and bloodshed, and those things are real and they won't turn their backs on me." Sakura whispered as she stared at Gaara's black mesh shirt and the various scares on his toned chest that she could make out. Bringing up her now free small dainty hands that doubled as tools of destruction, she laid them to rest on Gaara's chest where his heart beat rapidly against it.

Sakura marveled at the way the Kage seemed so collected in that moment as if caught in a faraway memory and yet, his heart raced; proof of the storm living inside of him. She found herself wondering if the Kazekage ever had anyone who didn't fear him that actually genuinely gave a damn about him enough to disobey him, or boss him around for his own good. Tamari cared about Gaara, but Sakura could see the fear and apprehension that lurked underneath the sisterly love and devotion. Even Kankuro who Sakura believed loved his little brother genuinely still possessed a slight fear of him, even with Shukaku gone. Kankuro's bravado worked miracles to mask his fear. Sakura didn't really know much about Naruto and Gaara's friendship, so she couldn't say how they interacted.

Sakura only knew that she didn't fear Gaara. She didn't fear his madness, or his bloodlust. They were two people who were destined to wear whatever mask their respective villages deemed they should wear. Gaara played the calm, collected and now 'safe' kage, and Sakura was expected to always play in Naruto and Sasuke's shadow…to play in the overcasting shadow of the shinobi world. She hadn't known Gaara long enough to be in love with him, but there where little seedlings of feelings resting in Sakura's heart and she feared the longer she bathed in the psychotic warmth of Gaara's presence a flower would bloom in no time.

The sand holding her flush against Gaara's body receded further and Sakura wrapped both of her arms freely around the Kage. Standing on the tips of her toes she hugged him as tight as she possibly could without hurting him.

If they had both been civilians with normal lives filled with loving families, and normal problems…

"W-what are these feelings that I have for you?" Gaara asked in a broken voice as he embraced Sakura tightly, while burying his face in her hair. "Why am I so confused? I want all of the pain you feel to be caused by me; I want to kiss you…everywhere. I want to possess you completely."

Sakura felt the Kage tremble against her and it hurt her even more that she had become close enough to Gaara to see him so vulnerable. She didn't want to build anymore bonds with people, especially Gaara. Just as she started to pull away Gaara began to speak again, and Sakura felt something wet on her Scalp that froze her in place.

"Shukaku had always been a constant voice in my head, we saw the world simply. Weak and strong, people who deserved to die and people who should be spared. It was normalcy. As I grew up everyone feared me, feared the things that I could do, and so I filled the loneliness with watching what I couldn't have. I remember my first taste of blood, I was three. I was always in constant fucking war with the madness in my head. Killing was fine to me, and I thought that others should be fine with it as well, but even the shinobi I grew up with were disgusted by the things I've done. Kankuro and Temari… I killed our mother. After Naruto they looked at me with their pity and sympathy. After the taking of Shukaku and my death everyone looks at me with sympathy and pity. How would they all feel-" Gaara brought his mouth to Sakura's ear as his body continued to tremble as if he was breaking. Sakura felt her eyes watering.

"How would they all feel if they knew that even with Shukaku gone, I still want to kill the weak ones playing shinobi in this world? I want to hear their screams as my sand crushes their flesh and bones. I can kill an enemy without feeling an ounce of remorse because Shukaku's logic became my own. Part of me has always wanted what everyone else has, their form of normalcy, when I play Kage I feel as if I'm repenting for all of the things I've done, maybe if I play long and hard enough maybe Temari and Kankuro can forgive me. I bet everyone would laugh at that. The monster has feelings; the monster has people he cares about."

"I still feel guilt." Sakura admitted. "But I know that we monsters have to stick together, so when the world is finally bathed in enough blood and everyone looks at us in contempt at least we won't judge each other." Sakura pulled away and kissed the Kanji on Gaara's forehead. "I wish that I had gotten the chance to know you when we were children, I feared you as well back then."

"You don't fear me now?" Gaara asked in a breathy voice as if Sakura's answer would be the deciding factor in a great decision that he had to make.

"I kicked your butt in your own desert, you tortured me. What is there to fear Gaara-kun?" Sakura hadn't noticed the new honorific she attached to Gaara's name but it became obvious that he had, when his trembling began to calm. "Remember when I told you that you are my shinobi and I'm your Kage now? You should fear me. I rule with a ruthless fist." Sakura laughed lightly wanting to lighten the heavy mood that fell on them.

"How is it that you have managed to replace Shukaku?" Gaara whispered in awe, before bending and lifting Sakura, so that she had a leg on either side of him wrapped around him. The Kage's teal eyes stared at Sakura in wonder, as he carried her to his bed.

Noticing where the Kage was taking her, Sakura blushed crimson as her eyes became the size of saucers.

"I have a mission to complete you hentai! What do you think you're doing?" Sakura sent chakra to her fist.

"These feelings that you make me feel, I'm giving into them Sakura-chan." "I talked to my brother about what I feel, and let him know you are off limits."

"Ano Gaara-kun we are not a couple!" Sakura yelled, still blushing. "I have to go I'm giving you a chance to let me go before I hurt you." Sakura shrieked when Gaara slide her lower on his body to press his arousal against her intimate place. When the Kage grinded his hips against her they both moaned.

"You are beautiful. Shukaku noticed you, your fire underneath the fear you displayed. That is why we did not kill you. You deserve to exist in this world with me. When I came to your village as a genin we followed you…watched you." Gaara kissed Sakura passionately as he moved his clothed body against her.

Pleasure began to race through Sakura and she felt herself rocking against him as she returned the Kazekage's fevered kisses. Sakura had never done anything this intimate with anyone before and the feelings that Gaara stirred in her made her dizzy with want. She wanted something and from Tsunade's medical teachings she knew what that was. She wanted Gaara, she wanted to immerse herself in what he made her feel and forget about the outside world.

Gaara's legs hit the edge of the bed and they toppled over. Sakura moaned as her back hit the mattress with Gaara still on top of her, mercilessly grinding himself between her thighs and against her sex.

Sakura's moans mixed with Gaara's, as she flipped him over and bite his neck until she drew blood. The Kage moaned when Sakura trailed her tongue across the wound and kissed him with her mouth filled with his own blood.

A sand blade formed besides Sakura. She watched the blade from the side of her eyes, as it inched closer to her cheek. She pulled away from Gaara with a gasp and a moan as the sharp blade slide across her cheek drawing blood.

The Kage immediately flipped her onto her back and increased his speed against her. Sakura was in so much pleasure she couldn't open her eyes as she felt Gaara lick the wound on her cheek before kissing her and making her taste her own blood. She could feel his hands trailing all over her body. She felt herself building to something foreign, something tightened in her gut.

Groaning in irritation Sakura opened her eyes when Gaara pulled away. She watched in a momentary daze as Gaara used his blade to cut her clothes from her body, leaving her in nothing but her training shorts and chest bindings. When Gaara reached for Sakura's training shorts she felt a strong gust of wind and a chill which caused her to sit up and grab his hand using her other hand to cover her chest as she blushed.

"I-I'm not ready for that yet…I've never done this before." Sakura said feeling self-conscious.

The intense look of lust on the Kage's face made Sakura's breath get caught in her throat.

"I want to be inside of you." Gaara spoke the words with such certainty that Sakura began to feel her resolve crumbling.

"She said she didn't want your filthy fucking hands on her!"

Sakura looked behind Gaara at the balcony to see the last person she expected to see. Riyou-sensei stood with his hands at his side in fists looking pissed, as wind swirled around him violently.

Before Sakura could speak, Riyou's long red braid lashed out at Gaara and he slapped him away as if he was an insect. Gaara formed his sand into a hand to catch him just as he almost collided with a solid wall. Her sensei's eyes trailed down her body to rest on her ninja shorts in concern and rage, and she closed her legs as she blushed in embarrassment. There was something about the way Riyou-sensei looked at her that made her feel like she should feel ashamed for what she had been experiencing with Gaara.

Sweaty and panting Sakura pulled her long hair that started to stick to her face behind her, wanting to stop what would soon be a battle that could end in her sensei destroying Sunagakure.

"Ano, Riyou-sensei." Sakura wasn't sure what to say as she blushed to the roots of her hair. "I thought Kentan-teme wouldn't let you leave?" Sakura reluctantly met her sensei's eyes as he approached the bed, the rage in his eyes smoldering.

They had both seemed to forget about the other red head in the room, who immediately reminded them of his presence when a well-aimed sand fist punched her sensei through the wall of Gaara's room.

Gasping in shock at the speed of Gaara's attack, Sakura stood up from the bed and watched as Gaara stalked across the room, his entire body movement reminding Sakura of a predator prepared to kill its prey.

Part of Sakura wanted to run through the hole and check on her sensei and another part of her wanted to work on calming Gaara down. She didn't know what Riyou-sama was capable of, but if he was strong enough to be her sensei and she had defeated Gaara, than that did not bode well for the Kazekage.

"Gaara-kun!" Sakura yelled, running to stand in front of the Kazekage. Sakura was expecting rage to be on the Kage's face, not a calm eerie mask.

"I remember him from your revival. He is the one who brought you back to life isn't he?" Gaara asked Sakura calmly.

Before Sakura could respond, she felt a gust of wind and a familiar Ki, causing her to grab Gaara and spin him to stand behind her, as her sensei instantly appeared where Gaara would have been standing.

Sakura met Riyou-sensei's murderous eyes with an annoyed expression as she bent at the waist in a show of respect that she would have never used with her sensei in private. "This is my Sensei Riyou-sama, Riyou-sama this is the Kazekage of Sunagakure."

"His shinobi are on their way, as much as I would like to stay and beat this punk into the ground for touching you…" Riyou trailed off as Gaara responded.

"She wanted me to touch her." Gaara answered, sounding calm.

Sakura turned to look at him confused at his change in attitude. Her look of confusion soon became a glare when the Kage began to smirk darkly at her sensei. Sakura turned back to face her sensei.

"Why are you in Sunagakure sensei?" Sakura asked growling in irritation at the two men in the room.

"You will fail your mission if you do not get what you were sent for today and our Kage will punish you severely. I went behind his back, and used other means to open the gate, so I could warn you. Haruno you do not want that punishment." Riyou's angry look softened as he met Sakura's curious eyes.

"How can anything be worse than being used as a sword pin-cushion, having my bones broken, or dying?" Sakura asked with general curiosity.

"Trust me." Riyou answered as his anger seemed to deflate right before Sakura's eyes to show a downtrodden look. Her sensei looked as if he hadn't slept in days.

"Hai, Riyou-sensei. I'm going to Kohonagakure to complete my mission now." Sakura said, as the anger faded from her eyes. In all of the time that Sakura had known her sensei she had never seen him look so worst for wear, and it bothered her. What did he have to do, to get around Kentan's control of Shigakure's gate?


End file.
